Extensive damage in parts of Guelph, Ont. after powerful storm, cleanup underway

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Cleanup underway in Guelph, Ont. after powerful storm

Damaging storm blows through Guelph, Ont.

WATCH: Storm damage in Guelph, Ont.

A strong, short-lived storm uprooted trees and caused significant damage in parts of Guelph.

Environment Canada put out a special weather statement Tuesday afternoon, warning of the potential for damaging winds and hail as a storm blew through parts of southern Ontario.

By 8 p.m. the statements had ended, but evidence of the storm was clear to see.

“The winds were gusting to 70 km/h, perhaps even 80 km/h, for much of the afternoon in the Guelph area,” Rob Kuhn, Severe Weather Meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said.

“Then a line of thunderstorms associated with a strong cold front came through between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. and those storms brought even stronger winds with gusts likely between 90 km/h and 100 km/h.”

He said the storm did not last long, but it was powerful.

“The intense part of the storm was maybe five minutes. The storms themselves were racing east at about 80 km/h to 90 km/h, so when you did get hit it was very sudden. And then once the storms formed into a line, the line was pushing southeast at about 40 km/h,” Kuhn said.

According to Northern Tornadoes Project, a team based out of Western University that investigates severe weather, they received many reports from across southern Ontario of scattered damaging winds, none related to tornadoes so far.

“At this point we don’t have any evidence or reports of tornadoes,” Kuhn said. “We’ve been asked that question for a couple cases already in eastern Ontario, but so far nothing yet has been determined that there was a tornado. When we were looking at warning these storms beforehand the primary threat, by large, was straight-line damaging winds, downbursts from thunderstorms and that’s indeed what seems to have happened.”

‘Over 50 calls related to storm damage’

In an email statement to CTV News, Terry Dooling, manager of Public Works for the City of Guelph, confirmed their teams received and responded to over 50 calls related to storm damage.

The impacts of the city’s recent storm include:

• Downed trees and large limbs blocking roads and sidewalks
• Fallen or damaged traffic signs
• Minor flooding
• Damage to traffic signals
• Multiple lane closures and temporary road closures due to debris and low hanging wires causing safety concerns

“Our Operations staff teams are working quickly to clear hazards and restore safe travelling conditions. Clean up is ongoing,” the statement read.

Extensive damage throughout the city

At a U-Haul building on Speedvale Avenue, at least one of the iconic orange storage boxes had been blown onto its side.

“It looked like there was a container that was flipped over. Winds of that strength for 30 seconds to one minute – that’s all you need to cause damage. It’s almost like a wall of wind," Kuhn explained.

Elsewhere, residents posted pictures on social media featuring large downed tree branches and toppled fences. Others posted videos showing debris blowing down the street as the winds whipped through the area.

For some families, the storm has taken a financial toll.

“We were standing there watching the rain and the wind as I was cooking dinner, and I said, look at this storm outside,” Guelph resident Betty Rose recalled. “As I moved away to go back to my dinner, [my daughter] goes, ‘The tree fell on my car!’”

Rose said it happened so fast, they didn’t even see the tree fall.

“The wind, like you couldn’t even see it. The window - it was just white with wind and rain.”

Power outages

Hydro One confirmed power outages are affecting 2,800 of their customers in the city. Crews have been dispatched, with an estimated time of restoration by 11 p.m. Wednesday.

In an email from Hydro One, representatives said there were 836 reported outages throughout the province as of Wednesday afternoon.

“As crews complete restoration in areas, they will be redeployed to other areas to help get the power restored. Crews are assessing damage so that an estimated time of restoration can be assigned to each outage. Estimated times of restoration may be updated as crews make repairs and uncover additional damage,” the email reads.

Partial collapse of building, roof torn off: Guelph Police

The Guelph Police Service said they received dozens of calls during Tuesday evening’s storm.

Police said trees and hydro lines were reported down across the city, with many streets closed into Wednesday morning as the cleanup continued.

“In two of the more serious incidents, a Woodlawn Road West business had a large section of its roof torn off and deposited in the parking lot, while another business on Speedvale Avenue West reported a partial collapse of their building,” police said in a media release. “Fortunately no injuries were reported in either incident.”

The damaged building on Woodlawn Road West belonged to Powerline Electronics. A hole could be seen in the roof of the structure Wednesday afternoon.

The damage came at a strange time for Powerline Electronics owner, Tim Huck.

“It was very strange because after 40.5 years, today is our last day in business,” he explained.

“Yesterday, we left at 5 p.m. and probably and hour or two later, a friend of one of the guys that works here phoned them and said, our roof is in the parking lot,” he said.