Wicked weather: tornado in Shelburne, sinkhole forms on Highway 11

Environment Canada has confirmed that a tornado touched down in Shelburne on Thursday night.

A blast of wicked weather caused damage in towns north of Toronto, including Shelburne, Keswick and the rural township of Melancthon.

Barns were damaged, power lines and trees went down, and Hydro poles snapped.

“I’ve driven by a barn which was partially destroyed, numerous power lines down in the area of Highway 10 and County Road 17,” said a caller from Shelburne.

“There also appears to be half of a barn strewn across Highway 10 in the same general area.”

Residents of the farming area, including one woman name Lynn, said she ran out to get her horses and the metal roof of her barn was ripped right off.

“Well I didn’t know what it was, it was just a huge pile of debris flying through the air,” she said. “To me it sounded like a roar. The lady next door said she thought it sounded more like a train.”

OPP Constable Paul Nancekivell described to 680News what police in the area dealt with.

“Dufferin OPP were dispatched to three locations in Dufferin County, the first location on the Seventh Line Southwest reports of a tornado touching down, several Hydro wires were ripped down and torn onto the roadway,” Nancekivell said.

“The storm moved eastward and again hit north of County 17 over on the Fourth Line, and tore the eastside of a barn right off, and tipped over a tree onto a boat.”

“The storm continued on further east onto Highway 10 where it took a roof right off a barn,” Nancekivell added.

There were no reports of injuries, but police say the clean-up will take a while.

Hydro One crews have been dispatched to try and restore power.

Police are asking area residents to be extra careful on the rural roads.

Gord, meanwhile, called from south of Keswick saying there is damage to Hydro poles on Woodbine Avenue and Greenlane Road.

“It’s been very heavy winds, I drive a tractor trailer, I had to stop because the wind was just tremendous,” Gord said.

“It looks like a tornado has blown through that south end here, the poles are broken in half like twigs, and there’s not just one, there’s several.”

Extreme thunderstorm warnings were in place for several areas north of the city, and even east toward Peterborough.

Up in cottage country, the extreme weather had the Mayors of Huntsville and Bracebridge declaring states of emergency, Friday.

Traffic heading south out of Huntsville on Highway 11 was stopped, Friday night, because of a large sinkhole – about 3.5 metres wide – on the highway. Police are rerouting traffic in the area.

More than 50 millimetres of rain had fallen between Thursday afternoon and Friday afternoon, leading to the mass destruction of many streets.

Damage is pegged at $1-million.