A thunderstorm brought down trees limbs, power lines and knocked out hydro to hundreds of customers in London on Thursday.
Crews worked to remove a tree that toppled over and brought down hydro wires at the corner of Becher and Perry streets near Wharncliffe Road late Thursday afternoon after the storm swept across southwestern Ontario.
Environment Canada had issued a tornado warning for parts of Elgin and Norfolk counties on Thursday and issued severe thunderstorm warnings for London and most of the surrounding area.
The tornado warnings were issued just after 3 p.m. and dropped around 3:40 p.m. for Elgin County and for Norfolk County about 10 minutes later.
Severe thunderstorm warnings in effect for Elgin and Middlesex counties ended between 4 and 4:30 p.m. Severe thunderstorm watches also ended for much of the London area around 4:30 p.m.
The national weather agency said in an earlier advisory that conditions had been favourable “for the development of severe thunderstorms” Thursday afternoon or early evening that could bring winds gusting to 100 km/h, nickel-sized hail and heavy rainfall.
Thursday’s storms continued a trend of volatile weather in the London, Ont., region this week that’s expected to continue into the weekend.
A severe thunderstorm watch was also issued on Wednesday and a severe thunderstorm warning was in place for the region on Monday, though it was lifted within an hour.
As of 12:30 p.m. Thursday, forecasters were predicting a “medium” likelihood of precipitation in London from 2 p.m. to midnight, with the temperature climbing as high as 29 C, feeling like 37 with the humidity.
The forecast also calls for a chance of rain on Friday with a risk of thunderstorm in the afternoon. More rainfall is possible Saturday before sunshine is expected to return on Sunday.