Tornado-hit region awaits word on aid
Minister visits area to assess damage three days after two twisters strike
Three days after tornadoes ripped the roofs off buildings, destroyed farming equipment and flattened a historic Presbyterian Church in two towns north of Montreal, Public Security Minister Robert Dutil toured the area Monday to assess the damage.
Farmer Benoît Couvrette said he hopes to receive financial assistance from the provincial government to help rebuild two of his silos that were destroyed when a tornado hit the community of St. Benoît de Mirabel Friday night.
Couvrette said he told Dutil he has private insurance, but he isn’t sure it will cover the cost of replacing the two silos and the barn where he keeps his cows.
Dutil’s spokesperson, Mathieu St-pierre, said no decision was made on whether financial aid will be made available to farmers.
Those affected have to contact their insurance company and also check whether they’re eligible for funding from a farmers’ insurance program operated by the provincial agriculture department.
The two tornadoes were Quebec’s first of the season.
No one was injured after the twisters struck within minutes of each other.
However, up to seven farms felt the brunt of the twister in St. Benoît while approximately 10 farming areas were hit hard in Brownsburg Chatham, about 35 kilometres away.
A low-scale Force Zero tornado first struck Brownsburg Chatham around 8 p.m. Friday, with winds reaching 120 kilometres per hour.
A second stronger F-1 twister then touched down in the community of St. Benoît de Mirabel just 15 minutes later.
Mirabel Mayor Hubert Meilleur said financial aid may be necessary because the economic costs to the farmers are substantial.
“Some of the buildings were completely destroyed,” he said.
“It is incredible that no one got hurt.”
A tornado also flattened the tiny Grand Fresnière Presbyterian Church in St. Benoît de Mirabel, which was built around 1854.
The province typically sees six twisters a year, usually between June and August, ranging between F-0 and F-1 on the Fujita scale.
Environment Canada uses the Fujita scale to rate the severity of tornadoes as a measure of the damage they cause. The scale runs from F-0 to F5.
The two twisters that touched down on Friday arrived earlier in the season than usual, but that doesn’t mean the province can expect more tornadoes this summer, said André Cantin of Environment Canada.
“We are not having more tornadoes than normal,” Cantin said.