The first long weekend of the summer season began tragically in Ontario on Saturday, after a powerful storm killed at least two people on its fast but intense journey through the south of the province.
Tens of thousands of residents were also without electricity, according to utility company Hydro One, whose outage map shows approximately 1,936 outages, leaving more than 343,000 people in the dark by Saturday night.
Read more: Storm in Ontario: 70-year-old woman from Brampton died after being hit by a tree
The Prime Minister of Ontario Doug Ford expressed his condolences to the relatives of those killed in the storm, with winds that reached Environment Canada at 132 km / h, downed trees and power lines in part of the province stretching from Sarnia to Ottawa.
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“I am very sad to learn of the tragic deaths of two people in Ontario as a result of today’s difficult weather,” Ford said in an evening tweet. “My thoughts are with their families and friends, and I offer my condolences on behalf of all Ontarians.”
The first death came in the city of Brampton, Ont., West of Toronto.
Peel Regional Police said a 70-year-old woman was outside when the storm broke out in the early afternoon.
She was hit and killed by a tree, police said. Her name was not released immediately.
Further west, Ontario provincial police said one person was killed and two others were injured when a tree fell on a caravan near Lake Pinehurst in the Waterloo area.
2:18 GTA hit by strong winds, rain and hail as the storm moves through the region GTA hit by strong winds, rain and hail as the storm moves through the region
Three others received non-life-threatening injuries after trees fell on two golf carts in Zora, the forces added in a later tweet.
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Pierre Poirier, the chief paramedic in Ottawa, said there were several “critical injuries” in the city.
“We were very busy,” he said.
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Joseph Mulia, director of Hydro Ottawa, said more than 179,000, or about half of their customers, have lost electricity across the city.
“It is still too early to try to find out exactly what we are dealing with here. We are probably dealing with a multi-day event, “he said.
Kim Ayot, general manager of Ottawa’s emergency services, said he expected the storm to clear up in a few days.
“We all need to be patient,” he told a news conference on Saturday. “Crews work as fast and as safely as they can.
Read more: GTA, Southern Ontario is feeling the effects of a strong thunderstorm
Images posted on social media from across the province show debris-strewn streets and downed trees that occasionally damage homes and cars.
Steve Faulkner, the operational manager of the airport in London, Ont., Said that a small plane overturned during the storm.
“There was a parked plane that was tied up and secured and the winds were strong enough to break the straps and the plane overturned,” he said.
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“We are cleaning it up now. The plane has been removed. “
The storm was strong enough for Environment Canada to issue an intrusive emergency signal that reached television and radio stations and mobile phones.
Environment Canada meteorologist Daniel Liotta said winds of 132 km / h were measured in Kitchener, Ont. the airport was a sufficient risk to property and life to trigger the warning.
While gusts of wind at this speed are not uncommon in isolated micro-bursts, Liota said the storm is unusual because it covers such a large geographical area.
“It was a big deal. “This is your upper echelon of thunderstorms,” he said in a telephone interview.
He said strong thunderstorms had only recently been added to the warning system.
7:51 Global News in Toronto 6: May 21 Global News in Toronto 6: May 21
According to Alert Ready, which operates the warning system for Canadian governments, no severe thunderstorm warning has been issued in the system for four years.
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In order to trigger an intrusive signal for thunderstorms, winds of at least 130 kilometers per hour or hail at least seven centimeters in diameter must be measured, which is the size of a tennis ball, Liota said.
The Environment Canada Meteorological Station at Toronto Pearson International Airport measured gusts of 121 kilometers per hour as the storm passed through the city at noon.
The storm eventually reached Quebec, where it also left thousands without electricity.
The Hydro Quebec website showed about 357,000 customers without electricity at 6 pm, mainly in the Outaouais region of western Quebec and the Laurentians area north of Montreal. Residents of Lanodier, northeast of Montreal, are also affected.
Earlier on Saturday, tornado warnings were issued for several regions in southern and central Quebec.
– With files from Ian Bikis and Maan Alhmidi in Toronto, Briana Charleboa in Vancouver and Siddhartha Banners in Montreal
© 2022 The Canadian Press
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