Possible tornado touches down in Midland, ON
From the Weather Network
Midland residents left picking up the pieces after possible tornado touches down
A state of emergency has been declared in Midland, ON - from the Weather Network
It will be a day of assessing the damage and picking up the pieces for anyone living in the town of Midland.
A series of intense thunderstorms tore across Ontario on Monday. Around 6:30p.m. a super cell brushed over Midland, spawning what forecasters say was likely a tornado.
Roofs were ripped off homes, highways were closed and trees were uprooted. Power was cut to more than 8,000 people, and about 150 people were forced to leave their homes.
A state of emergency has been declared in the town.
“Devastated. No body likes to see this happen to anybody,” said Midland Mayor James Downer. “You know, my job as Mayor is protect the people of this municipality to the best of my ability and when something like this happens it’s devastating to me.”
Damage is Widespread accross Midland - From the Weather Network
A police spokeswoman from Smith’s Camp, which is a trailer park in the heart of Midland, says the area was badly hit by the storm. About 40 mobile homes have been destroyed and emergency crews are on scene.
Within minutes of the severe weather hitting, our Stormline was ringing off the hook with callers from the region.
“We were able to take a drive down to the west side of Midland where the businesses are, and that’s where we witnessed poles gone through cars at Honda and windows shattered through the vehicles at Discount Car and Truck rental,” viewer Melanie Playne of Midland told The Weather Network.
Viewers have also been busy uploading their photos and videos to our Your Weather Gallery. Some of them are featured on this page.
Still, Midland wasn’t the only town affected by Wednesday’s severe thunderstorms. They rolled across several Ontario regions, including the southwest, the Bruce Peninsula and the Greater Toronto Area. Tornado warnings were issued for several major cities, including Windsor, Chatham, Peterborough, Orillia and Lindsay.
We spoke with Geoff Coulson, a meteorologist at Environment Canada who told us what the plan of action is today.
“The intent at this point is to continue to get other information as best we can over the phone to get an extent of what type of damage and where it occurred and it’s very likely we’ll be sending a team out to assess the damage.”
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From the Ontario Newsroom
A Statement by Minister Bartolucci on the Severe Weather Event in Midland
June 23, 2010 10:53 PM
Our thoughts are with the families who have been impacted by tonight’s severe weather.
This photo submitted to the Weather Network from Ryan Smith in Midland, ON.
The Ontario government is actively monitoring the severe weather.
Earlier tonight I spoke to Midland Mayor Jim Downer and offered the assistance of the provincial government.
Emergency Management Ontario and the Ontario Provincial Police are assisting the communities affected.
