Chimney’s gone but we can count our blessings
The storm wasn’t just violent, it was also discriminating
The tornado that wreaked havoc on OttawaGatineau Friday touched down in my Greenboro neighbourhood, it seems, bearing a grudge against me. As it cut a destructive path through my small condo enclave, sometime after 6 p.m., it took direct aim at the block that houses my unit. There was considerable damage all around: toppled trees all over the streets, on top of roofs and on a car. The place looked like an explosion had gone off, leaving an ugly mess.
My roof took the brunt of the damage, however. The powerful wind sheared off a massive chimney atop the condo and dumped it on the opposite end, leaving a gash in the roof. You have to marvel that wind could be so powerful as to lift something that big and just toss it overhead. A friend who stopped for a visit surveyed the damage and asked, “Why you?” But I was just happy no one was injured. The storm was not just violent, it was discriminating. It tore down chimneys and smokestacks along its path, shredded backyard fences and outdoor furniture, took siding off buildings and smashed a few windows. But somehow it left a string of balconies and one chimney in its path very much intact. It is amazing how one thing can be destroyed and the next to it spared. And this damage was nowhere near what people in Dunrobin and Gatineau experienced.
Friday afternoon was a day out with my daughter-in-law and granddaughter. They had just dropped me home around 5:30 p.m. when the wind started to pick up. Looking through the first-floor kitchen window, I
There was an entire chimney lying on the ground ... I didn’t know then that it was mine.
noticed the wind had picked up strongly and a tree directly facing my balcony was swaying dangerously towards my unit. My neighbour and I have always feared that in a big storm that tree was going to crash on top of us. As I scooted downstairs to avoid what I thought was imminent disaster, I heard a large bang and thought the tree had snapped. But it didn’t feel like anything had hit the roof. I went back up to find the tree still standing. I heaved a sigh of relief.
As suddenly as the wind came, it died down, and it was only when I went outside that I realized what had happened. Other neighbours were also outside; the place looked like a war zone, with debris strewn all over the neighbourhood. We were all in shock. No one had experienced anything like that before. Needless to say, we lost power.
There was an entire chimney lying on the ground and we all marvelled at how it had ended up there. I didn’t know then that it was mine. My son drove by and wondered aloud which unlucky fellow’s unit had sustained such damage.
He would soon realize it was his father’s. Someone pointed to my roof and I realized that the bang I had thought was the tree falling, was actually the chimney being ripped off. It could have landed somewhere much more dangerous.
Fortunately, the rain had stopped but I needed to cover the gash in the roof with a tarp in case there was another downpour. The condo managers tarped it up and, for now, the worst is over. The neighbourhood was still a mess Sunday, of course, and the next course of action is to clean up while we wait for a plan on how to fix all the damage.
We are licking our wounds, but bearing in mind what has happened in other parts of the city, we also are counting our blessings.