Recovery still ongoing from Wednesday’s severe storm system

Torrential rain, gusting winds, power outages: All were seen throughout the afternoon and evening across Waterloo Region, with cleanup efforts still ongoing after southern Ontario’s severe storm system.

The system led to severe thunderstorm and even tornado warnings in areas stretching from Grand Bend and London through to past Toronto.

“An active storm day in parts of southern ON (Ontario) with most damage being reported from about Bayfield to Cambridge,” said the Northern Tornados Project (NTP), the research initiative based out of Western University.

“It appears the damage is mostly due to straight-line winds, but it’s possible that there was a tornado or two involved.”

Photos on social media show knocked-down power lines and torn trees, mainly from the damaging winds, with NTP saying that, in one more extreme case, it led to a barn being destroyed.

While many photos are showing the various levels of damage seen throughout Waterloo Region and much of southern Ontario, NTP is hesitant about more extreme images that have been circulating online.

“Note that there are a couple of images being passed around online that are supposed to show observed tornadoes in Guelph and Paris, but we believe these could be AI fakes,” NTP stated.

“These are becoming increasingly prevalent in storm situations.”

In the region, some of the more prevalent impacts were the resulting power outage from Wednesday’s storm system, with areas throughout the Tri-Cities and the surrounding townships all having some areas affected throughout the day.

“Thank you for your patience as crews work to restore power to 12,000 customers following extensive storm damage,” said GrandBridge Energy, which said it saw numerous outages reported throughout its associated areas of the region, pointing largely to Cambridge and North Dumfries.

“Crews are making progress restoring power following this afternoon’s storm, but unfortunately, extensive damage due to trees & branches on powerlines means some customers will be out of power overnight,” Enova Power stated, saying that crews would be out throughout much of the evening, working to restore power.

Alongside the power outages, crews were also working overnight through the local municipalities, removing and clearing some of those downed trees that were blocking drains and impacting the roadways.

“Thank you to all City of Kitchener staff who worked tirelessly since yesterday afternoon, well into the night and will continue again later this AM on clean-up from the storm – tree down, clogged drains, drain backups and more,” said Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic on social media.

“As of 9:30 p.m. last night, our City of Kitchener Contact Centre received more than 100 calls and emails regarding downed trees, debris and more. Crews worked late into the evening to address issues, prioritizing clearing roadways, then driveways, then sidewalks, and will continue with less urgent areas this morning. There may be an impact to residents’ morning commute.”

As of Thursday morning, most areas that had gone without power have been restored, but both Enova Power and Grandbridge Energy said some smaller, remote areas are still dealing with issues.

Impacted families and residents are encouraged to reach out to their respective providers if they are still experiencing any ongoing outages.