Goderich, Ont. residents 'can't believe' it's been 10 years since twister

Eve of 10-year anniversary of Goderich tornado Residents in Goderich, Ont. are reflecting on the day a massive twister levelled parts of the town. CTV London's Scott Miller has details.

Goderich, Ont. — It took less than 20 seconds for Goderich Ont.’s history to change forever.

A tornado packing over 300 km/h winds cut a swath of destruction through the shoreline town on Aug. 21, 2011.

Saturday marks 10 years since the tornado changed the town forever.

“It was quite a day,” says Goderich Mayor John Grace, who was deputy mayor at the time of the twister. “It was quite a year after, two years, maybe even three years before everything was normalized, shall we say.”

The tornado destroyed 40 homes and 25 commercial buildings, causing over $150 million in damage. Thirty people were injured and one person was killed.

The twister changed the lives of almost everyone who experienced it, including Deb and Bill Bell, who lost their home.

“Deb was looking, saying where’s our house? You could normally see it from where we were, but you couldn’t see nothing of our house. It was gone,” says Bill.

The Bells and everyone on their street has rebuilt, but the damage done that day still lingers.

“You put these things all in a little box, and put it away. But every time there’s a tornado warning or you hear of one, it opens up, and you just feel the same loss,” says Deb.

Like the Bells, the Town of Goderich rebuilt and reimagined its downtown, which had several buildings destroyed.

“The community really came together after the storm. They created a new vision for the downtown core and rebuilt their community into what it is today,” says Grace.

A community-led vigil to mark the 10-year anniversary of Goderich’s tornado is happening Saturday at 4 p.m. in Courthouse Square.

The town itself isn’t organizing any events or memorials to mark the occasion.

“It’s part of our history, I get it, but we don’t need to dwell on it,” says Grace.