Cleanup begins after Ontario tornado
`IT'S SHOCKING'
BARRIE, ONT. • Residents whose homes were badly damaged or destroyed in a twister that tore through Barrie, an hour's drive north of Toronto, got a closer look at the wreckage Friday as they ventured back to retrieve key possessions, while the Ontario premier vowed to support the recovery efforts.
Premier Doug Ford toured the south Barrie neighbourhood where the tornado touched down and pledged Friday to “step up” if insurance companies didn't cover the costs of repairs.
“It's a shock, it's shocking, it's heartbreaking,” Ford said as he stood on a street littered with debris, with several homes cordoned off.
“These people, within minutes, literally, their lives changed. But we're going to get them back on their feet.”
Ford expressed relief, however, that no one had been killed in the disaster, calling it a “miracle.”
Uprooted trees, toppled fences, pieces of building insulation and roofing materials remained strewn on lawns and into the streets in the area where the tornado cut its path Thursday afternoon. Several people were injured.
For some, the brief return home to fetch medication, prized possessions or pets highlighted the extent of the damage and its fallout, Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman said in a video statement Friday morning.
“That's one of the real difficult things about this morning, is folks finding that their lives are gone, their possessions are gone or heavily damaged by the storm,” he said.
“But the cleanup efforts are beginning.”
Paramedics have said eight people were taken to hospital, and several others were treated for minor injuries. The mayor said Friday that 11 people were injured in total, but none were critically hurt.
Environment Canada has given the tornado a preliminary rating of EF-2, meaning it had maximum wind speeds of 210 kilometres per hour. The damage path was about five km long and up to 100 metres wide, the weather office said.
Roughly 20 homes are considered uninhabitable, with two or three completely destroyed, fire Chief Cory Mainprize said.
Crews were expected to start making some repairs Friday, including patching up roofs.
Mayor Lehman said the community had already started coming together to support those who lost the most to the tornado.
He noted it's a familiar scene to many longtime Barrie residents. A tornado killed eight people and injured more than a hundred others in the city in 1985. Hundreds of homes were destroyed.