A tornado in Canada on Friday, Sept. 21, left 25 injured, authorities said.
The tornado ripped through Ottawa and Gatineau.
Ten of those injured were rushed to the hospital, reported CBC, five in each city.
‘Like Some Bomb Was Dropped’
Around 150,000 Hydro Ottawa customers were left without power, with Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson saying it could take days to restore it.
“Literally it looks like some bomb was dropped from the area, and the aerial footage I saw, the paramedics have provided a drone … it looks like something you’d see in a movie or in tornado alley in Oklahoma,” Watson told reporters, referring to Dunrobin, which was the hardest-hit area and had dozens of homes flattened or destroyed,” Watson said.
“It looks like something from a movie scene or a war scene,” he said.
Bryce Conrad, president of the Hydro Ottawa, said the storm inflicted damage worse than that sustained from the infamous 1998 ice storm.
Early indications are the tornado was an EF-2, meaning wind speeds of up to 135 miles per hour (218 kph).
Thunderstorms with high winds and a confirmed tornado in Eastern Ontario have caused significant damage to our Merivale Station. Crews are working on restoring power as quickly and safely as possible. Sign up for outage alerts and updates at: https://t.co/04lgwEJXZI pic.twitter.com/R2YZJRrVQS
— Hydro One (@HydroOne) September 22, 2018
Woah. We got quite an office view in #Gatineau of a possible tornado. Hoping everyone is safe. Video (sped up 4x) credit to my colleague @MikeRMcCauley cc: @jesshayden6 @RachelRappaport @bismahhaq pic.twitter.com/j4szV6RHP3
— Andrew MacKendrick (@amackendrick) September 21, 2018
Take a look at the severe damage in the Mont-Bleu area of Gatineau.
Details on the tornado's damage: https://t.co/pV74dcy1fx #ottawa #ottstorm #ottnews #ottweather pic.twitter.com/PTTYtmtPdX
— CBC Ottawa (@CBCOttawa) September 21, 2018
Photos that my mom took of the tornado damage in Dunrobin #onstorm #ottweather #Ottawa pic.twitter.com/I0iT5TIY0t
— Lauren (@_rawrenn) September 21, 2018
Update: A tornado warning has passed in Ottawa. The storm left some serious damage. Pic from Maryse P on Twitter pic.twitter.com/BJnnXAhmoe
— Q104 Halifax (@Q104Halifax) September 21, 2018
Residents React
Gatineau was also hit, with more than 600 people left without shelter. Gatineau resident Vincent-Carl Leriche saw parts of his building, which he was inside, ripped off, including parts of the roof.
“I grabbed my camera and a few seconds later on, the tornado started to form right in front of me,” he told CTV. “I was lucky because I know there were people who were close to windows and were hit by the debris. But I was lucky.”
Leriche went outside after the tornado and saw widespread damage, including trees ripped from the ground and cars flipped over.
Chris Angeconeb, his wife, and their two sons took shelter in their basement in Ottawa. They heard objects hitting the house.
“You could hear things ripping. The wind was just amazingly strong,” Angeconeb told the Canadian Press. “It was intimidating and scary.”
“The house across the road—their garage was gone. Our good neighbor’s house—their house looked completely destroyed. And his neighbor, two doors down, their house was gone. The top level was gone and it was just the basement left,” he added.
“The man who lives there was asking for help because his sister had been hurt,” he said.
From The Epoch Times
