Cleanup continues in the Elgin County hamlet of Mapleton, Ont. after a storm ripped through Saturday. Two days later workers were removing trees from the road with a chainsaw, and hydro crews were working to restore power. Residents were recalling the power of the wind and rain. “It sounded like a freight train,” said Peter Rempkens who was burning brush which he picked up off his lawn. “It was just booming down and down. It felt like it was stuck here and the wind was so strong. It’s the biggest storm I’ve seen in 65 years.” The storm came through around 1:45 p.m. Saturday afternoon, and about 10 minutes later was gone. “It was continuous thunder, then a lot of rain and wild wind,” said Mark Lovell, who lives on Mapleton Line. “There was no emergency alert sent to the phone. It just everything started moving very quickly.” The aftermath is visible. “We’ve got a lot of trees down and the power is off of course,” said Lesley Moncrief. “Lines are down; the road is blocked. We are using a generator and touching base with all the neighbors to make sure they’re okay.” The Moncriefs had a massive tree ripped from its roots and smashed their shed. “It was close to the house, but fortunately it went the opposite way so no damage to the house or barn,” said Russ Moncrief. “There was probably about six other trees that had the first 15 to 20 feet taken off the top of them. There’s several more trees back in this spot here that were blown right down.” They even had a tree limb go right through their car window which was parked off their driveway. After initially deciding to assess the damage remotely, the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) from Western University sent a crew to the area Monday. “We just have couple reports of damage of some barns, and some trees and once we get more reports we go out,” said Anij Sparenberg, an NTP Tornado Researcher. “We do a ground survey, which means we drive back and forth on the roads. We are going to put the drone up because it’s easier to see a larger area.” Hydro One came to Mapleton Line and grounded the loose wires Saturday, while the Municipality of Central Elgin closed roads. Nearly 48 hours after the storm, hydro crews were on scene Monday fixing the snapped trees and poles and restoring power. Despite some property damage, the Moncriefs believe it could have been worse. “There was no loss of livestock or pets that we are aware of in our neighbourhoods,” said Lesley. “So that’s a good thing and as far as I know, no one injured.” More photos of the damage are available in CTV London’s photo galleries.
