EF-1 tornado confirmed in Orleans, Ont., frightening footage
An EF-1 tornado has been confirmed in Orleans, Ontario with frightening footage of the severe storms roaring through.
In a weekend that produced severe thunderstorms with tornado watches and warnings issued across parts of southern and eastern Ontario, a preliminary "low end" EF-1 tornado has been confirmed in Orleans, the eastern Ottawa suburb located along the Ottawa River. This rating would suggest peak winds of 135 km/h.
"A tornado developed about 10 km southeast of Gatineau Airport at about 5:54 pm EDT Sunday evening," said Environment Canada in the storm summary. "This tornado was reported to have moved east along the Ottawa River before coming ashore on the Ontario side of the river and causing wind damage in a number of localities."
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Downed trees, damaged homes and power outages were reported along with one minor injury, the City of Ottawa stated in their Tornado Response. There were also closures in the area due to debris littered roadways including Highway 174 from Trim Road in Orleans to Cameron Street in Cumberland.
"Please avoid the area," the city tweeted, adding that an emergency operations centre had been mobilized in response to the tornado impact.
"Emergency services are assessing the need for assistance and first responders are completing door-to-door checks in the area," city officials said.
A video showed the tornado moving across the Ottawa River at the Camelot Golf and Country Club:
"A funnel cloud was also reported in the Rockland area around 6:40 pm according to a trained Canwarn spotter," EC adds.
Damage assessments will continue on Monday as survey teams investigate the damage paths and affected areas.
ROCKLAND AREA FUNNEL CLOUD
MORE SCARY SCENES FROM SUNDAY'S SEVERE STORM TRACK:
WATCH BELOW: OTTAWA PARAMEDIC GIVES FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF WITNESSING TORNADO
Thumbnail photo courtesy: Marc Rochefort
