One person clutches a street light pole to stay upright. A few others sprint for cover. Another drops into an athletic stance, knees bent, arms out, as if preparing to withstand an unseen force.
On Tuesday, as record-setting winds roared across southern Ontario, videos posted to social media showed and while thousands in Toronto聽were left without power.
It marked the windiest April 29 in Toronto鈥檚 recorded history, according to Environment Canada, with the strongest wind gusts topping out at 103 km/h. The windstorm swept across much of southern Ontario 鈥 a rare event for this time of year, said David Sills, director of the Northern Tornadoes Project at Western University.
David Sills, director of the Northern Tornadoes Project at Western University.
David SillsAlthough the storm’s reach was surprisingly wide, Sills said it doesn鈥檛 necessarily indicate a windier summer ahead.
鈥淚t’s an outlier, for sure,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hese kinds of storms are more common in the June, July and August period. But certainly in the shoulder seasons 鈥 March, April, May and into October and November 鈥 these storms can happen. And we’ve seen that multiple times in the past.鈥
Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath was hospitalized聽Tuesday afternoon after a fall 鈥渄uring extremely windy conditions鈥 on the stairs outside city hall. The fall left her with a broken wrist requiring surgery, as well as a fractured elbow and injured leg.
She鈥檒l be resting and recovering at home for the remainder of the week, her office said in a statement, and is in 鈥済ood spirits.鈥
鈥淲e are grateful for the community鈥檚 outpouring of concern and well wishes and will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available,鈥 Horwath’s office said.
Large swathes of Ontario, including the Greater 海角社区官网Area, could see damaging “supercell” storms this afternoon into the evening.
Large swathes of Ontario, including the Greater 海角社区官网Area, could see damaging “supercell” storms this afternoon into the evening.
In Toronto, a woman in her 30s suffered serious injuries after a large tree branch fell near when strong winds were reported Tuesday afternoon, striking her and a 10-year-old girl. The woman was taken to the hospital with critical injuries, which were later downgraded to be not life-threatening. The girl wasn鈥檛 physically injured, police say.
鈥淚t is too early to determine why the tree branch fell,鈥 said 海角社区官网police, who added that they won鈥檛 be providing further updates since it isn鈥檛 considered a criminal incident.聽
海角社区官网paramedics couldn鈥檛 confirm how many injuries were caused from Tuesday鈥檚 storm due to how their data is tracked.
Russell Baker, manager of media relations and issues management for the City of Toronto, told the Star that the city is prioritizing existing inspections within parks and along streets “out of an abundance of caution” following Tuesday’s strong winds.聽
Baker added the city is responsible for maintaining more than five million trees, and staff proactively perform visual inspections throughout the year to identify and remove both “immediate and urgent” tree risks in highest use areas.
“Any required maintenance work that is identified from this work will be scheduled according to priority,” Baker said.
Ahead of the Leafs’ playoff game against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, and head to a nearby shelter due to the inclement weather. Around half an hour later, the tailgate area had reopened and fans were invited back.
Around 27,000 people in Toronto聽were without power at the peak of the storm, according to 海角社区官网Hydro.
Environment Canada says 海角社区官网and surrounding areas could see more rainfall starting late
Sills,聽at Western University,聽said it鈥檚 hard to tell if people should be more worried about wind without more data. But as cities and communities grow, the risk of damaged infrastructure, electrical lines and trees due to storms increases, as seen on Tuesday.
During these storms, Sills said finding shelter to stay out of the way of flying debris and fallen trees is a priority. He noted how nearly all 12 deaths from the May 2022 derecho聽鈥 a widespread windstorm 鈥 across southern Ontario and Quebec were caused by falling trees and branches.
Fallen trees sheared by high winds near Ottawa after the May 2022 derecho.聽
David Sills“A storm that may not have caused a lot of impacts in the past is now causing quite a bit because it’s just hitting more infrastructure, more homes,” he said. “There’s just that much more impact on people’s lives.鈥
Tuesday’s widespread high winds may have been the most intense since the derecho nearly three years ago, Sills said.聽Winds gusted to above 180 km/h in the derecho, which Sills says is one of the top 10 natural disasters in Canada, and were mostly straight-line winds.
He helped establish the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory last fall at Western University to examine how climate change is playing a role in severe winds and flash floods, similar to those the GTA experienced last summer. However, he says it鈥檚 too early in their research to determine the extent of climate change’s impact on these storms.
奥颈迟丑听another storm forecast to hit 海角社区官网on Thursday, bringing the possibility of more rain alongside strong winds, Sills cautions against reading too much into it.
For now, he says this week鈥檚 weather is better understood as a one-off, rather than a pattern.
鈥淲hat it tells us is that at this point in time,” he said, “is the ingredients came together for strong storms and produced one heck of a storm day.”
With files from The Hamilton Spectator
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