Retirement home residents displaced, storm cleanup underway in parts of southwestern Ontario

Thousands of people in Essex County, Ont., are grappling with clean-up efforts and power outages in the wake of a vicious thunderstorm that caused massive damage across southwestern Ontario. 

Northern Tornadoes Project researchers from Western University have visited Harrow, Blenheim, Wheatley, Leamington, and  Kingsville as of Thursday evening.

In the southern Essex County municipality of Kingsville, Mayor Dennis Rogers said Thursday that the town's arena has been opened as a cooling and charging station for residents still without power. 

"Our real big focus is today is, you know, one checking in on our vulnerable persons and occupancies like our seniors' homes," Rogers said.

"The next is obviously removing our trees from public property, priority given to opening up roads, and then obviously keeping in communication with our impacted businesses and residents.

"We've got a lot of damage on our public and municipal properties, and that's going to be our kind of our main focus for clearing up at this point."

At Augustine Villas in Kingsville, some residents were evacuated to a nearby hotel in Leamington after a tree came through the roof of the retirement home. 

Rogers said Thursday morning it was "status quo" for those residents as the home works on cleanup and with insurance. 

"This cleanup is very different from our windstorms that we had back in February and even December. A lot of those were like limbs and branches what have you," Rogers said.

"Now we're dealing with giant, big trees that are getting pulled out of the ground. So it's going to be a great deal of clean up.

ELK Energy said on social media that power was restored for the majority of Harrow as of Thursday early afternoon, except for Erie Street. 

Rogers urged residents with property damage from the storm to contact their insurance providers as soon as possible. 

In a statement Thursday afternoon, the Town of Essex said they have identified "significant damage" in Harrow and Colchester — including blocked roads, hydro outages and property damage. 

"Please avoid any unnecessary travel, as road conditions remain hazardous, and crews are working diligently to clear the roadways and ensure accessibility," the town said.

Damage to Augustine Villas displaces some residents

Nicole Primeau, administrator at Augustine Villas, said Wednesday night no injuries were reported in the storm. Four residents were displaced because of damage to their rooms, while some were displaced because they needed power for oxygen machines. 

"We won't be able to recharge their machines," Primeau said.

Primeau said there's been a lot of support from the community includingRogers who came out to ensure the fire department assessed the building's structural situation. 

"They gave us the go-ahead to remove the branch from inside the building. We had a lot of people come out and help with that job and do a quick fix until we can get the real work started."

Despite not having power, other residents chose to remain in the building overnight Wednesday without a fire alarm system, according to Primeau, with staff monitoring the complex and residents.

"We have to do 30-minute walks to make sure the building is secure and just make sure that all the residents are comfortable not overheating, getting enough water and having whatever care that they need to be safe."

15-metre tree downed by lightning onto Windsor homes

Jason Truong owns a home on Church Street was one of two hit by a 15-metre (50 foot) tree felled after being struck by lightning during Wednesday night's storm. 

"We don't know what's going on right now," Truong said. "We're just waiting." 

The residents of the home, including his daughter, are fine, Truong said, but no one can access the home with the tree remaining in place.

Truong said he believes the tree is actually the city's, and is working with his insurance to figure out what comes next. 

Hari Shridher owns the home on the other side of Truong's, that was unaffected by the tree. He said trees like this can unfortunately come down all too easily. 

"It's a sad thing to say but I think the trees need to go," Shridher said.

"The trees are old and if they can be uprooted easily… the roots are going all the way in and these houses are old, so the roots will be touching the foundation and the sewer and all of that."

'It's quite a disaster'

A huge mature tree on the boulevard of Anthony Thachuk's property was uprooted by the storm.

The Kingsville homeowner said it's fortunate he and his wife weren't home, and their vehicles weren't in the driveway at the time it came crashing down.

"Quite a shock to come home to," said Thachuk.

"The tree fell perfectly to just miss our house and barely nick our neighbour's."

Thachuk said his street was "basically in ruins" Wednesday night and "it's quite a disaster."

Melissa Deblock is a neighbour of Thachuk's and wonders if a tornado had touched down in the town.

She said her family was in the house when the alerts started going off on their phones, so she took her children to the basement.

"It was just unbelievable." 

"I was at my back door and we heard this big noise. It was like a whiplash. And my laundry line went down and then the trees came down … and it was done before it was over."

Deblock estimated the worst part of the storm lasted a couple of minutes.

When her neighbour's large tree was pulled from the ground, it was really loud, sounding like a freight train, she said.

"And that's all you could hear was a big roar. And then when we looked out, everything was down. It was like, 'Wow, what the heck happened?'"

Similar damage stories coming from Harrow

The mayor of Essex, which covers the community of Harrow, told CBC News that residents were describing to her what could have been two tornadoes touching down in the area. 

Sherry Bondy said she was out with town crews and Ontario Provincial Police were assessing the storm's damage Wednesday night — calling it widespread across the southern half of the municipality. 

"There was a lot of wind, and a lot of people said it sounded like a wind storm," Bondy said. 

"Myself, all of my garbage and recycling was torn apart all over my lawn. My neighbour's fence is down."

On Thursday, the Northern Tornadoes Project will send teams from Western University in London to examine damage Thursday around Kingsville, Harrow, and Blenheim.

Tornadoes were confirmed in Chatham-Kent and Lambton County during last week's storm that blew across southwestern Ontario.

The Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) issued a flood watch for the area on Wednesday. It's set to expire late Thursday morning.