Tornado hits Barrhaven in South Ottawa

No reports of serious injuries, family reunification centre set up Environment Canada has confirmed at least one tornado touched down in the south Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven early Thursday afternoon.

Numerous witnesses have told CBC they saw at least one tornado in the area, and several have provided photos and videos of funnel clouds and swirling debris.

At least one video clearly shows a tornado making contact with the ground.

Researchers with the Northern Tornadoes Project were scheduled to arrive in Ottawa on Friday to investigate further.

Ottawa Fire Services said around 1 p.m. it had received reports of a tornado around Umbra Place, just east of Highway 416. Ottawa police indicated they’d had similar reports.
Katie Gies was in her home on Pumpkinseed Crescent in Barrhaven’s Half Moon Bay neighbourhood at about 12:45 p.m. ET when she saw debris swirling through the air outside her window.

At this point, an emergency alert had not yet been broadcast on her phone. She started recording but didn’t think much of it. There wasn’t much noise and the clouds rolling past seemed normal.
Given how little warning she had, Gies plans to stay in the laundry room until weather warnings and watches are lifted.

“After seeing what I saw, I don’t feel comfortable leaving just yet until there’s some sort of official thumbs up,” she said.

“Had I not been directly at the window, I don’t think I would have taken notice of it otherwise. There wasn’t an alert that was issued yet on my phone. It wasn’t super loud. I didn’t hear any debris hitting my home.”
Another Barrhaven resident, Alison Kinahan, said she was shaken while she and neighbours assessed the damage in their neighbourhood.

While her own home was only stripped of some insulation and some trees were down in her backyard, people on a nearby street had no roofs, she said.
When her family received the first alert warning Ottawa residents about a tornado, they took shelter in the basement.

“I was just trying to stay calm for my daughter and my parents,” she said.
Steve Hillier, who was visiting area residents on Everbloom Lane, got under his guest bed as he heard the storm approach.

“Then there was just this massive boom, like I’ve never heard before, like a bomb going off,” he said. “The glass then just blew, the wind came … the rain was coming, in glass everywhere, bits of roof coming down inside, insulation.”

Louis Lavoie, who lives on Chapman Mills Drive, said she went out on her patio “and then I watched a tornado touch down right in front of me.”
Ottawa paramedics said around 1:45 p.m. they knew of one person with a minor injury. Ottawa firefighters said about 50 homes have been affected around Umbra Place and that they’re going door-to-door shutting off gas and hydro as needed.

Ottawa police say there’s a family reunification centre at the Minto Recreation Complex at 3500 Cambrian Rd., and ask people to avoid the area.

About 1,800 Hydro Ottawa customers are currently without power in the area. Officials also say there may be road closures due to downed wires and trees, as well as gas leaks.
“We’re actually looking at a possible series of tornadoes,” said Environment Canada warning preparedness meteorologist Monica Vaswani.

“We’re only confirming the one that we saw near Barrhaven, but there have been [other] reports of rotation.”

Vaswani said details including wind speed and the tornado’s rating will be determined after the storm is over and a team is able to survey the damage it caused.
Environment Canada issued a tornado warning for communities such as Kanata, Orléans and the city’s downtown around 12:50 p.m. Other areas had tornado watches.

A second tornado warning followed at about 2:45 p.m. and ended around 3 p.m.