Flooding streets, strong winds, and one hell of a drive!!

Tornado passes through southwestern Ontario

Last Updated Fri, 19 Aug 2005 19:40:41 EDT

CBC News

At least one tornado ripped apart homes, flipped over trucks and tore limbs from trees Friday after much of southwestern Ontario was lashed by heavy winds and rain.

A confirmed tornado left a wake of destruction near Fergus, Ont., about 150 kilometres west of Toronto, as cars were thrown into a ditch, trees knocked down, and several homes and silos demolished.

The severe storms began around 1:30 p.m. ET, causing flooding in some areas.

Toronto traffic was snarled as cars plowed through highways that in some places resembled rivers.

As the storm advanced through the afternoon, Environment Canada issued a tornado warning for Toronto, something that rarely happens.

By late afternoon, many of the tornado warnings in southwestern Ontario were downgraded to severe thunderstorm warnings as the weather system moved further east.

However, the storms delayed flights departing from Pearson International Airport.

Close to 10,000 Ontario residents were left without electricity.

No serious injuries have been reported.

Once again, I had to be in traffic at the time of these events. I was stuck in this 150 m section of a road for 45 minutes. People from the other side were telling me to turn around, since there are 5 cars stuck in the water. There was a median in the road, and therefore there wasn't a way of turning around. I managed to squeeze between 2 of the cars that were stuck, meanwhile creating a huge wave of water. At any point, the water was up halfway over the tires. Whenever a truck passed by, a huge wave of water would hit my car, to the point I thought there was damage done to it. One section of the 401 is a valley, and naturally all the water was going there creating a pool of water. In that section of the highway people were abaondoning their cars!

Looking back on these events, I think it was quite the sight, and I don’t think I will ever forget it. I was also planning on going camping this weekend, but for obvious reasons I’m spending the weekend at home.

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