Overnight tornado warnings for parts of Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent

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Severe weather passed through Essex County Wednesday night, prompting a midnight tornado warnings.

“I woke up around 11:30 p.m. A lot of wind. High winds. A lot of rain,” said Harrow resident Ginger Hickmott.

Rain flooded farm fields in Harrow as Environment Canada sent out a severe storm warning at 12:03 a.m.

“That was a surprising little storm because it was the strongest one in Ontario last night,” said Environment Canada’s severe weather meteorologist Mitch Meredith.

“It actually lasted over an hour or so and it was rotating for the whole time.”

According to Meredith, lightning tracked from Harrow to Leamington before losing steam near Rondeau.

“So, it was a long track storm and those are sometimes dangerous and what we saw on radar anyways has the potential to draw up a tornado along that track,” Meredith explained.

An Environment Canada emergency alert was sent out shortly after 12:30 a.m. and according to some Harrow residents, that was well past the time that the storm blew over.

“I went out and looked outside just to make sure that nothing was coming or anything. I took a look around, and that was about it, really. Nothing going on,” said Robert Anderson.

Hickmott is concerned she received an alert after the fact.

“I went downstairs and looked out the windows and it seemed very calm at that time, so it’s like the notice came out about an hour after I feel like the storm happened.”

Donny Moore, a photographer who follows storms, noticed the severe weather on the Michigan radar.

“I watched it for a few seconds and then I checked online and there were no warnings,” Moore told CTV News.

“None of the local pages (social media or websites), weather pages were posting anything and then we didn’t get the Environment Canada warning.”

Moore posted to several social media pages to give people the heads up.

“There is obviously some sort of flaw, some that needs to be looked and discussion to be had at different levels of government, with Environment Canada,” Moore suggested.

Essex mayor Sherry Bondy wants to investigate further.

“Do we have enough radar in Southern Ontario, particularly in the county of Essex? Are we getting accurate alerts for them in order to be able to do their job?” she questioned.

She plans to bring forward a notice of motion at the next council meeting in the hopes of opening discussion with Environment Canada and different levels of government.