Horizontal rain and 130 km/hr winds ripped through Eastern Ontario over the weekend causing property damage in many Kingston, Ont., neighbourhoods.
Evergreen trees uprooted, patio furniture tossed, and driveway basketball hoops tipped over were the result of a storm that was not detected by Environment Canada until it touched down.
“We expected thunderstorms would develop but we didn’t know it was severe in eastern Ontario, because we expected the severe storms to be in southwestern Ontario and in the golden horseshoe area, but this storm reached the severe status,” said Gerald Cheng, a meteorologist for Environment Canada.
For Colleen Savage, a resident of Kingston her entire life, the storm on Saturday was unlike anything she had experienced.
“I thought it was tornado, so I screamed for my children and we ran down into the basement,” said Savage.
She said that while in the basement, it felt as if there was a train underneath the house shaking the entire structure. The storm lasted only a handful of minutes, Savage said, but the extent of the damages to her house, and neighbouring houses, was immense.
“Our neighbours’ fences collapsed, the hinge to our gate broke off, and any furniture in the back yard was displaced,” said Savage.
Other Kingstonians tell Global News that small backyard sheds were destroyed and flower beds were torn up.
Cheng is currently looking into the storm and says, as of Monday, he thinks it was a downburst which is caused by a downdraft coming from a severe storm cloud, and once it touches down, it spreads.
Savage, and many of her neighbours, have begun the cleanup process, and those with chainsaws, have offered to help dispose of the large evergreen tree that fell alongside her home.