N.D.G. bears brunt of storm that clobbers Montreal area
‘I saw tables flying, I saw parasols, plants, big heavy potted plants were lifted up and flown’
After a flash thunderstorm ravaged most of Notre-Dame-de- Grâce on Tuesday afternoon, some of its residents compared the damage to the disastrous Ice Storm of 1998.
“Particularly N.D.G., with the damage to the houses, the cars, the street closures, with these 100-year-old trees everywhere,” said Sharon Dawe, a magazine publisher who lives in Monkland Village.
Across the neighbourhood, and in other parts of the city, the short but powerful storm knocked huge trees to the ground, some hitting homes and vehicles.
In Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Park, many old trees cracked in half and benches were pushed over by the strong winds.
Many N.D.G. residents have been visiting the park since childhood, and have fond memories of spending time there over the years.
Kristen Cere was among the swarm of people gathered at the safety perimeter set up by firefighters around the park.
“We came here often when I was a little kid,” Cere said, adding she was baptized in the church next to the park, now home to River’s Edge Community Church. Cere, who grew up on Belgrave Ave., was visiting the demolished park with her two young sons.
“We just moved back to Marcil Ave., so this is his park now,” she said of her eldest son.
“It’s sad, it’s crazy,” Cere said. “It’s insane what’s happened.”
“You never see this,” 20-yearold Donovan Klopot-Mahar said of the damage to the area around N.D.G. Park, at Sherbrooke St. and Marcil Ave.
“All the cars having trouble getting around, I’m on my bike having a blast.”
The streets between Vendôme and Wilson Aves. were littered with people milling about the streets, taking photos and video, talking to loved ones on the phone, and gazing in awe at the debris.
Many who witnessed it assumed the storm was a “mini-tornado,” but Environment Canada called it a microburst.
A number of residents reported seeing debris flying around during the storm.
“It literally picked up things on my back deck,” Dawe said.
“Palm trees, chairs, debris everywhere.”
Karen Ocana was in her home on Oxford Ave. when the storm struck.
“I was closing all the windows because it had started to pour,” she said. “Then I heard an enormous thump.”
A branch had fallen on her roof making a hole in it. She said water started pouring in through the hole. Water also started coming down through her chandelier.
Ocana said the storm was over quickly.
“I was very grateful for the briefness of the rain.”
She said she thought she was experiencing a tornado.
Falling trees crushed cars along some side streets, including Marcil, Wilson and Prud’Homme Aves.
One tree on Prud’Homme crushed five cars when it fell.
Peter McQueen, N.D.G. city councillor for Projet Montréal, was among those standing outside N.D.G. Park after the storm. He urged residents to avoid driving as much as possible, and said he was evaluating the fallen trees to see if they were rotten.
“It’s better over time … to cut a few of the thickest trees and plant new ones, so in any part (of the borough) you have a varied age of trees,” McQueen said.
He said rotting trees could have contributed to the damage caused by the storm.
Borough mayor Russell Copeman said the destruction was unavoidable, given the abnormality and strength of the storm.
“The nature of this event is so extraordinary,” Copeman said. “Nothing could have been done.”
It will take at least a few days for the power and traffic to go back to normal, he said.
In the meantime, Hydro-Québec, police, firefighters and public works employees are working on the biggest task involved with this incident — getting the trees out of the way.
Katrina Janosy has lived in N.D.G. for 50 years, and said she’s never seen anything “remotely close” to this storm before, apart from the Ice Storm.
“I saw tables flying, I saw parasols, plants, big heavy potted plants were lifted up and flown.”
Janosy commended the fast and hard work of the different teams providing emergency services to the borough.
“I’ve even seen (citizens) in the park dragging branches to clear the way for people,” she said beside a giant tree that had crushed a white Volkswagen on Wilson Ave.
Janosy added that the events have caused the community to work together.
Dawe agreed.
“People come out when there’s a disaster like this, because there’s so much (stuff) going on in the world,” she said.
“This is when people come out as a community.”
I’ve even seen (citizens) in the park dragging branches to clear the way for people.