Elizabeth Mason, FEO, August 15, 2024, VOL. 5 ISSUE 25
You didn’t have to go to the movie theatre to get a taste of “Twisters” over the long weekend. Fort Erie and Stevensville experienced quite the gusts of wind on Monday the 5th as at least one tornado touched down in the area causing some destruction.
Fort Erie residents were concerned as there was no warning issued to notify people of the storms. Under other circumstances, Environment Canada would have sent out an alert to mobile devices notifying residents of the potential for a tornado, but Fort Erie locals had to find out through personal experience, word of mouth, or more likely, social media.
Environment Canada issued a rainfall warning for many parts of Ontario on Monday, warning of strong wind gusts and potential thunderstorms. However, it did not alert Ontario, or more specifically, southern Niagara, for a tornado. Warning Preparedness Meteorologist Peter Kimbell was quoted as saying, “the weather set up was not typical for tornadoes… the storm blew up out of nowhere.”
Fort Erie’s Fort Erie – “Our Town” Facebook page was filled with concerned locals sharing images in real time of the destruction they were seeing on the roads, and just outside their own homes. Places like Rona and Walmart took quite the hit and were the talk of the Facebook page at the beginning of the tornado’s entrance. A trailer was tipped over in the Walmart parking lot, grass turf was ripped up in the field at GFESS, and the roof came off the large warehouse at Rona, causing reasonable panic.
Another question that arose in many people’s minds was “was this actually a tornado?”
Environment Canada confirmed that there was at least one tornado that touched down, but there were no visible indications of one until the very last minute. Typically, when a tornado is about to hit there are warning signs you can look for as a way to know that you may want to take shelter.
According to the Government of Canada, the warning signs include: severe thunderstorms, with frequent thunder and lightning; an extremely dark sky, sometimes highlighted by green or yellow clouds; a rumbling sound or a whistling sound; and funnel cloud at the rear base of a thundercloud, often behind a curtain of heavy rain or hail.
The Western University Tornado Project website lists three tornadoes occurring in the area between Welland and Fort Erie. Two, the ones identified as Fort Erie (Crescent Park) and Brookfield – Stevensville, have been classified as EF1, whereas the third, the Fort Erie (Fort Erie Beach) tornado, has an EF0 classification.
Toronto CTV News offers the following explanation: “The [Crescent Park] tornado has been classified by the Western University research team as an EF-1 on the Enhanced Fufita scale, due to its max wind speed of 155 km/h. The scale ranged from 1 (135-175 km/h) to 5 (315 km/h or more).”
“The maximum width of Monday’s EF-1 tornado was 190 metres wide, the researchers said.
Fort Erie’s own residents experienced destruction at their homes.
Karen Kosakowski was sitting on her front porch, about to head inside when she said it was “just lightly raining. I was sitting on my front porch when it came out of nowhere! It sounded like a train, but there was no train whistle like there always is. The tree in front of me just snapped, and it’s a big tree! You could hear this pop, pop, pop like tree branches snapping. My neighbours shed moved, things were flying in the air! It lasted what felt like three minutes, then it was over.”
Kosakowski was incredibly lucky as the tree just barely missed her house, with her in it.
Nearby at Stevensville Memorial Hall, large trees came down causing a blockage in the exit of the parking lot.
While destruction was being caused in Stevensville, things were getting torn up in Fort Erie as well. On Garrison Road, the roof of the local Rona warehouse came off and flew into a neighbour’s yard with the homeowner and her daughter watching it all unfold.
Places like Albert St Park were also hit with mass amounts of debris, as sticks and branches covered the playground and pathways.
Wayne Redekop said in an interview with CHCH news, “they’re seeing lots of damaged and downed trees which has affected the hydro operation, so the hydro company has been out and working on that.”
Thankfully no injuries or deaths were reported due to the tornadoes, and work is being done to clean up the property and town damage. In Stevensville, chainsaws came out all along Coral Avenue as neighbours worked together to clear the road and remove trees and branches from homes and driveways along the picturesque street. Town workers were on site in Stevensville and many other places throughout Fort Erie picking up sticks and debris left by the freak storm.
Many have commented on how much worse the event could have been, and Rona issued a thank you to the people of Fort Erie who have “called the store, brought us coffee and donuts and just generally shown your concern for us after Monday’s tornado. There’s no place like Fort Erie, and we’re very lucky to be a part of your community.” Truly community, indeed.
