Tornados Strike Ottawa

[lrt's friend]

A strong cold front has spawned tornados in Dunrobin and Gatineau.

On the very evening when the South Keys community was to celebrate its 50th anniversary, a possible tornado hit the centre of the neighbourhood. Many trees and hydro poles down. Most streets were impassible. Some house damage.

The worst damage appears to have been bound by Southgate, Johnston, Albion, and Cahill. It may be more extensive east and west, but driving was very difficult.

I have some so-so quality photos I took with my phone but I don't know how to post them.

[JakeLRS]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

A strong cold front has spawned tornados in Dunrobin and Gatineau.

On the very evening when the South Keys community was to celebrate its 50th anniversary, a possible tornado hit the centre of the neighbourhood. Many trees and hydro poles down. Most streets were impassible. Some house damage.

The worst damage appears to have been bound by Southgate, Johnston, Albion, and Cahill. It may be more extensive east and west, but driving was very difficult.

I have some so-so quality photos I took with my phone but I don't know how to post them.

create a flickr account and upload there. Once uploaded and able to be viewed publicly, click the share icon and choose the bbcode option, copy and paste that long link and then we can view it. Hope this helps and hope everyone is safe in that area, seemed very severe.

[11a2b3]

.

[lrt's friend]

Pictures from South Keys. Sorry for the quality. The light was fading fast when I was there. A friend of mine lives right in the middle of this, and her house lost some siding and a tree split up in her back yard. Most streets were blocked by downed trees and wires. Numerous large trees were down across or next to Albion Road. Some poles were snapped, others were lying on the street.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/159527.../shares/27212e

[acottawa]

Thanks for the pictures.

It is weird how localized the damage was in different parts of the city.

No sign of damage on the East side.

[zzptichka]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Thanks for the pictures.

It is weird how localized the damage was in different parts of the city.

No sign of damage on the East side.

No kidding. Nothing in Crystal beach but Dunrobin to the NW seems to be hit the hardest and some serious damage to the SE at Greenbank.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...nado-1.4834216

[zzptichka]

Greenbank at Hunt Club:

[Horus]

Lots of damage in the Mont-Bleu neighbourhood of Hull. From what I saw on CBC this morning, it looked as though the Mont-Bleu high school caught fire too.

Many pictures in this CBC article.

[DarthVader_1961]

Not to make lite of the damage and what people went through... maybe now some above ground power lines will be looked at for burial?

[Urbanarchit]

Originally Posted by DarthVader_1961

Not to make lite of the damage and what people went through... maybe now some above ground power lines will be looked at for burial?

Are the newly built neighbourhoods being constructed with hydro poles or are they burying them?

[c_speed3108]

Originally Posted by Urbanarchit

Are the newly built neighbourhoods being constructed with hydro poles or are they burying them?

Newly built neighbourhoods have buried distribution lines, but that was the (major) issue in this one.

What really did the city in here is that the Merivale Transformer station took a direct hit by the tornado. That needs to be cleared of debris and then rebuilt/repaired. That takes days.

They also had some towers destroyed as well.

[J.OT13]

And the Merivale Transformer is a major junction in Hydro Ottawa's power grid.


https://twitter.com/Michael_Daws/sta...28967184101376

[lrt's friend]

The second tornado seem to parallel just to the north of Hunt Club Road, touching down at various points along the way. I saw considerable damage on Tapiola Crescent in Greenboro. The worst damage at each end of the street. Lots of damaged roofs. I saw a few holes in houses and the storm began to rip off an attached garage from one house. The latter location looked like war zone. Enormous numbers of trees were down.

I spoke to one gentleman from South Keys who was BBQing in his back yard when the storm struck. He watched lawn furniture blowing by him and had to hold down the BBQ. The storm lasted but a minute. My own friend was so frightened that she ran for the basement. Her house was slightly damaged, and a tree was ripped apart in the back yard.

[DarthVader_1961]

Thankfully Bayshore area never lost power

[waterloowarrior]

Crazy drone video of Arlington Woods
https://youtu.be/bJuYOex7qDE

[kwoldtimer]

Does anyone know what organizations are accepting money donations to help victims? Red Cross? Others?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Does anyone know what organizations are accepting money donations to help victims? Red Cross? Others?

I believe it's the Red Cross. At least on the Gatineau side it's been all Red Cross so far.

[daud]

Regarding tornado #2 the EF-2 that hit Arlington woods.

There's a fairly clear path for this one based on what I saw over the weekend. My first evidence of it was around 416 and Huntclub where some giant cottonwoods or poplars, are felled like matchsticks. From there it hits arlington woods really bad and craig henry then the merivale power station. I assume it then passes through colonnade because on Riverside Drive, north of Uplands there is a small woodlot by the river (north of some condos) and you can see a clear path where the tornado just plowed through. Large pines, just cracked at their base in a clear path.

I'm assuming from there it may have skirted the north end of the hunt club area-not sure.

The odds of having not 1 but 2 tornadoes strike on the cusp of the first day of fall is wild.

[zzptichka]

Welcome to the new climate change reality. It will only get worse from here.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by daud

Regarding tornado #2 the EF-2 that hit Arlington woods.

There's a fairly clear path for this one based on what I saw over the weekend. My first evidence of it was around 416 and Huntclub where some giant cottonwoods or poplars, are felled like matchsticks. From there it hits arlington woods really bad and craig henry then the merivale power station. I assume it then passes through colonnade because on Riverside Drive, north of Uplands there is a small woodlot by the river (north of some condos) and you can see a clear path where the tornado just plowed through. Large pines, just cracked at their base in a clear path.

I'm assuming from there it may have skirted the north end of the hunt club area-not sure.

The odds of having not 1 but 2 tornadoes strike on the cusp of the first day of fall is wild.

I know it went through parts of the Hunt Club neighbourhood west of the Airport Parkway (I did not go over there, but someone posted damage on Facebook), then right through South Keys Shopping Centre, Southgate Road, Dunlop Public School, Albion Road, Tapiola Crescent and then eastward. I don't know the exact path beyond Tapiola, but I heard that it continued beyond that point. I know I drove down Conroy Road right after the storm and did not see damage there. It seemed to be touching down sporadically.