WATCH: A powerful summer storm rolled across southern Ontario Sunday night — dropping rain, hail and a tornado. Thousands of people had their power knocked out and flights were delayed at Pearson International Airport. As Mike Drolet reports, Twitter lit up with images of ominous clouds hovering over Toronto.
TORONTO — Environment Canada has confirmed a tornado touched down in Teviotdale, Ont. on Sunday, severely damaging homes, barns and police vehicles.
Local resident Wilma Weber said the tornado caused significant damage to her house and that she was thankful she wasn’t home at the time it occurred.
“We’re still in shock. It’s something you’ve never experienced before, you just have to take one day at a time and see,” she said.
“We’re thankful for all the people who have showed up to support us, we need all the support we can get.”
Weber said she was heading home at the time of the tornado but stopped due to the severe weather and stayed with family, but was shocked at the damage to her house when she returned.
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“Just the house roof was off and I could see it will need a lot of help to get that one repaired again,” she said.
“I’m often home on a Sunday night so I was thankful.”
Environment Canada Meteorologist Arnold Ashton confirmed the EF-2 tornado touched down Sunday night, with wind speeds of between 180 and 220 km/h.
“We do have confirmation now that in Teviotdale there was a tornado,” he said Monday, adding that the path of the tornado was about nine km long.
“We have an Environment Canada crew there, they had a look at some of the most severe damage and there is one bungalow that was very severely damaged, basically two of the walls have been ripped out, the roof has been lying, or at least a good chunk of it, 200 metres downwind so very severe damage.”
READ MORE: Thousands of Ontarians still without power after severe thunderstorm
Environment Canada said in a release that the tornado was “the most severe weather outbreak of the summer,” which occurred after several rounds of thunderstorms crossed through southern Ontario.
WATCH: Environment Canada confirms a tornado touched down in Teviotdale, Ont. on Sunday night, with winds of up to 220 km/h. The tornado destroyed homes and barns over a nine-km-long path. Marianne Dimain has the story.
“The trigger was a combination of very warm and very humid conditions couple with strong upper level winds ahead of a cold front,” the statement read.
“The first round of thunderstorms rapidly became organized in the afternoon and came ashore from Lake Huron and accelerated southeastwards towards Lake Ontario, causing considerable swaths of straight-line wind damage.”
Environment Canada said a “particularly strong thunderstorm” struck Teviotdale and authorities found the damage was consistent with a tornado — with hail ranging from dime-sized to golf ball-sized — leaving thousands in the region without power.
Ashton said that it’s possible the province may see more severe weather throughout the summer.
“August typically has been kind of eventful severe weather wise in recent years in southern Ontario so I would expect that we would see maybe some,” he said.
“Usually the peak summer months — June, July, August — are the peak severe weather months for thunderstorms, tornadoes, that sort of thing.”
Meanwhile, Hydro One said it’s working to reconnect roughly 12,000 customers who are still without power Monday.
Nearly 50,000 people across the province lost power Sunday evening after the severe weather wreaked havoc across southern Ontario.
Hydro One said it’s hoping to have most power restored to customers by 10 p.m.
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