Windsor rainfall record broken, possible tornado for Petrolia

Storms that cut through southwestern Ontario Wednesday afternoon and evening left power outages and downed tree limbs in their wake.

According to Environment Canada, there may have been a tornado in the Sarnia-Lambton area. The specific area was just southeast of Petrolia.

"We saw some structural damage, tree limbs down. It may have been from straight line winds or it may have been from a tornado," said meteorologist Ryan Rozinskis, adding that the weather service is gathering photos and checking radar images before it sends an investigator to the area.

Rainfall also broke record levels, with 44 millimetres of rain falling in Windsor. The previous record for Sept. 11 was set in 2000, with 26 millimetres. Sarnia received almost 37 millimetres of rain Wednesday. 

"Windsor airport recorded a 124 kilometre per hour wind gust," said Rozinskis. The high wind gusts came in the later round of storms, around 9:30 p.m.

Rozinskis said if there is damage that hasn't been reported to the weather service yet, people should be sure to file those reports. A volunteer observation network will also be filing reports of rainfall and damage.