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Wicked Weather In The West End

Posted by MikeR / July 18, 2006

7 Comments

storm_20060717_468.jpgI was nearly hit by lighting last night as the bolt struck less than 100m from where I stood. There was a flash, a fierce crack, a tingling in my feet and then a weird rubber band noise as the electrical grid went down, all in less than a second. The speed at which the storm overtook the area was astounding. Less than 5 minutes before the lighting and violent gusts of wind, I was playing tennis under a clear sky.

The power was out in the High Park / Roncesvalles area for over 8 hours, and my nerves were shaken for at least that long. If you have a good storm story, please share.

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Rick / July 18, 2006 at 01:54 pm
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<p>Last night we were sitting on the patio at the Boardwalk Pub at Ashbridges Bay as we watched the storm roll in. All around us to the west and north we could see continous streaks of lightening but it never came towards us.</p>

<p>Just before 11:00 the wind died down for a bit and then suddenly began gusting violently. As we walked to the car we were engulfed in a sandstorm. The wind was whipping sand off a construction site on the corner of Coxwell and Lakeshore. The air was filled with dustclouds, we had to walk with our eyes covered and our legs felt like they were being sandblasted.</p>

<p>We never did get the same storm intensity that the rest of the city seemed to get though.</p>
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jerrold / July 18, 2006 at 02:27 pm
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Our patio umbrella was open when the storm blew through... the top snapped off, and the pole bent to almost 90degrees.

Also, a hydro pole fell on a house and set off a fire (near Bloor/Islington).
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Natalie / July 18, 2006 at 03:41 pm
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The wind last night was crazy. I kept thinking about shutting the windows, but the breeze was so nice after the heat. Not too much of a mess on my street, although I thought there might be from all the big trees waving wildly in the wind, and luckily I wasn't in the area of the power outage (I'm just off Roncy).
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Sameer Vasta / July 18, 2006 at 05:12 pm
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We had quite a few trees and large branches fall over in local parks here in north Etobicoke, and the lights flickered a bit. A few people down the street lost power for a bit, but in general, it was all good. I actually went outside for a bit of the storm, and it was brilliant getting whipped around by that wind after such a hot day.
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Carrie / July 18, 2006 at 06:42 pm
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Lightning = my worst nightmare. Mike, if that had've been me, I'd still be cowering under my bed right now!
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Tanja / July 18, 2006 at 07:11 pm
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I've lived in my house for over 20 years but walking around it at night with only my "blackout candle" is still super creepy. This morning power came back at around 6am. The trees are still all over the street though. Yellow tape seems to be the temp solution.
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Garry / July 18, 2006 at 07:55 pm
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Jeezus, dude. I'd hate to not see you @ the next kickball game cuz you've been struck by lightning. messed up.

scary pic, i've gotta say. :)
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