A tornado touched down in the south Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven early Thursday afternoon, damaging at least 125 homes, according to Ottawa Fire Services.
“The damage varies from roofs being ripped off of the homes, the shingles and the sheeting, down to broken windows and trees being down,” Kim Ayotte, Ottawa’s general manager of emergency and protective services, said during a news conference hosted by the city later in the afternoon. Witnesses told CBC they saw at least one tornado in the area. Several provided photos and videos of funnel clouds and swirling debris.
At least one video clearly showed a tornado making contact with the ground.
The Barrhaven tornado in photos
Researchers with the Northern Tornadoes Project said they would go to Ottawa Friday to investigate.
Ottawa Fire Services said a tornado was spotted around Umbra Place, just east of Highway 416. Ottawa police indicated they’d had similar reports.
“Thank God there was only one minor injury.”
There was some damage to city infrastructure, Ayotte added, but nothing substantial.
“I think there’s a lot of people breathing a sigh of relief,” Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said in an interview. “It could have been a lot worse.” READ MORE
