A vicious storm left thousands without power in Toronto last night
A brief yet nasty storm ripped through the City of Toronto last night, bringing with it heavy downpours, winds of up to 100 km/h, and a flood of tweets from people who were shocked by just how wild the weather got.
#onstorm @KMacTWN incredible winds downtown Toronto pic.twitter.com/JTgdP3i3q8
— Dustin William (@thelandofdustin) June 11, 2020
While fast, lasting about ten minutes in any given area as it moved across the region, last night's weather event was intense. It was also quite entertaining.
A beautiful view of a cloud-to-ground lightning strike as well as the storms rain-core towards Oakville, Canada tonight. It was one of the shortest chases I have ever had. Only 5 minutes of photo taking before outflow rains hit our location but worth it. #onstorm #StormHour #onwx pic.twitter.com/OSmp0ezyxG
— David T. Chapman (@DTChapmanPics) June 11, 2020
If the vibe felt a bit tropical to you — what with the ocean-like smell and fast-moving, torrential sheets of rain — your storm sense is solid: The squall line was a remnant of Atlantic cyclone Cristobal.
The tropical storm hit Southern Ontario on Wednesday evening after ripping across the midwestern United States, leaving severe wind damage (and in some cases, huge balls of hail) in its wake.
@CBCWindsor Here comes the hail again! Pictures are from the first batch just before 6pm in Windsor. pic.twitter.com/bFGpZCXCcn
— Karen (@mustluvkitties) June 10, 2020
Toronto was put under a severe thunderstorm watch around 6:30 p.m., but Environment Canada upgraded the watch to a warning around 10:30 p.m. as the storm approached the city.
Toronto now under a severe t-storm warning. Take cover! #onstorm pic.twitter.com/83Y5eLabRs
— Ross Hull (@Ross_Hull) June 11, 2020
The next hour saw social media platforms light up with incredulous posts from locals whose homes were battered by wind and rain.
Epic storm outside. pic.twitter.com/RkdUqdHcEf
— 🌟รƭα૨ɓεαรƭ🌟 (@StarbeastGG) June 11, 2020
The sky, too, lit up, but with lightning.
This picture is very deceiving because it’s actually pitch black outside right now. #lightening #storm #oakville pic.twitter.com/gBOP5UIPnJ
— Sheron Lau (@sheronlau888) June 11, 2020
Toronto Hydro announced at 10:48 p.m. that it was "starting to see scattered outages across the city due to tonight's storm."
Here's an example of some of the damage caused by tonight's wind and rain storm. https://t.co/FkmkknSLco
— Toronto Hydro (@TorontoHydro) June 11, 2020
Outages rolled throughout the night as trees fell onto power lines and crews worked quickly to clean up the mess.
EXPLOSION:
— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) June 11, 2020
Oakwood Ave & Rogers Rd
- reports of explosions heard in the area
- police o/s &
- @Toronto_Fire o/s
- hydro transformers exploding in the area @TorontoHydro
- lights are out
- advising pedestrians to use caution
- road closure in the immediate area#GO1071265
^al
As of 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, some 3,000 Toronto Hydro customers were still without power.
TORONTO - Making Tea and Charging my Phone during a Blackout thanks to our @biolitestove in #DarkTO..! 🤓 pic.twitter.com/yziGatkUGy
— Mark J. Richardson (@mjrichardson_to) June 11, 2020
Sadly, trees were cracked in half and / or uprooted as the storm passed through.
We had a storm...sadly it brought down a young, healthy, tall, with gorgeous branches...#onstorm pic.twitter.com/sH5senNOuj
— Ashis Basu (@BasuAshis) June 11, 2020
Patio furniture and plants were lost.
Hope everyone is staying safe. Moments after I took this pic my heavy balcony furniture got flipped over by the crazy wind & rain. Plants were rescued...except one. Not sure where it went. #onstorm pic.twitter.com/KL9LpBQrGm
— Anne Marie Aikins (@AMAwithAMA) June 11, 2020
Compared to some other parts of the province, however, Toronto fared pretty well.
Unfortunately, reports of extensive tree damage in Bracebridge #onNTP https://t.co/Q9l9E3fFOG
— Travis Farncombe (@tjfarncombe) June 11, 2020
Two tornadoes were actually confirmed by federal weather authorities to have touched down outside London, Ont., in Glencoe and Belmont. No injuries were reported but local news outlets report that buildings were damaged.
Had the pleasure of seeing this fun stuff outside of Glencoe😋 @weathernetwork #onstorm pic.twitter.com/M9Mb57EPRU
— ѕуd (@sydniehilll) June 11, 2020
While not as bad as some of the wind storms Toronto has seen in recent years, this one was certainly a doozy.
Accessing the damage
— Dewucme (@jlpconcepts) June 11, 2020
Waking through the beaches neighborhood @@weathernetwork @CP24 @weatherchannel #onstorm @cityoftoronto @BeachVillageBIA @BeachEastYork @cityoftoronto #storm @StormHour #stormchasing @StormhunterTWN @MurphTWN @twn pic.twitter.com/vY58NVlbOb
RIP to the trees felled by last night's breeze.
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