Residents recount the moment tornado touched down last week in Embrun

Even though it took almost a week to confirm that two tornadoes touched down outside Ottawa last Thursday, residents who live in the community say they knew it was more than a strong wind storm. 

"It went really black, like almost nighttime black. " said Christine Wight who lives in Embrun. 

In a Wednesday blog post, the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP), a research group founded by Western University, said two weak tornadoes touched down southeast of Ottawa on July 13. One struck Embrun, Ont., and another struck between Fournier and St-Bernardin, Ont.

Wight was outside on her usually quiet street when the tornado hit. She said the wind was so bad she had to hold onto the side of her house to get inside. She quickly took her family to the basement and watched, terrified from the windows. 

"It was like swirling up around the front," she said 

The tornadoes were classified as weaker than the ones that hit Barrhaven the same day. In Embrun, the tornado started around 1 p.m. and clocked in at a top wind speed of 125km/h, compared to 155 km/h in Barrhaven.

The NTP found the track to be narrow, damaging trees and causing minor roof damage to several homes. 

One large tree was in Wight's front yard; when uprooted it hit the hydro line, knocking out power in the area for a few hours. 

Wight said the wind pulled the roof off her garage and she saw the storm throw her barbecue about eight feet in the air.

"Things have disappeared. I had a patio set in the back, my love seat's gone, and a chair is gone, pieces of our barbecue — we can't find them," she said. 

"It was frightening for sure."

Lots of debris flying around

Just down the street, Marise Clement is also dealing with damage to her roof and back fence from downed trees. 

She was already in the basement taking a shower when the emergency alert on her phone went off. 

"I was screaming to my sister: 'Get down here!'" she recounted.

"She was already awake because a neighbour's tree fell on the roof and woke her up." 

When she emerged from the basement, she saw garbage and recycling strewn on her lawn and her temporary carport wrapped around the hydro line. 

She said a glass patio table from her neighbour's house flew down the street, shattering the glass and sending the metal frame into the back of her sister's vehicle. 

The cover of her children's sandbox in the backyard ended up in pieces at the top of her neighbour's trees. 

"I"m happy I sleep in the basement," she laughed.

Others in the area had close calls too. Chris Pearson, who owns Pearson Street Smash Burgers and Melts, ran to shut down his food truck when he heard about the tornadoes touching down in Barrhaven. 

"The adrenaline was going," he said 

He too saw the sky getting increasingly dark and eventually took his staff to the basement of a canteen building near his truck. 

"Absolutely surprised and shocked," he said.

"The last few years have been a little weird with weather but it's [Ontario], not really known for tornadoes and stuff like that.… Things are changing."