An intense blast of wind is being blamed for heavy storm damage southwest of Ottawa on Monday.
Hail damage to siding looked like bullet holes and trees were uprooted from the concrete in Beckwith Township during a storm that lasted 15 minutes.
“It really looked like a war zone,” said Douglas Bailey, whose shed was knocked onto his car and canoe sent flying 300 feet.
“I was trying to keep the front doors from caving in . . . water was coming up under the front doors, I had towels jammed in there.”
Mike Traill said he won’t be able to return home for two to four weeks after a group of nine ash trees were knocked onto his home like dominoes.
“We read about it and see it in the newspaper, but not this close to home,” he said.
Environment Canada investigators said damage there wasn’t caused by a tornado, but rather a microburst of very strong winds around 4 p.m.
“The wind and the rain occurred at the same time and that is also consistent with what happens during a microburst, not what we would see with a tornado,” said Peter Kimbell with Environment Canada.
Larry Belanger said he was watching the storm from his back porch when trees started to fall.
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen,” he said. “The tree came down right in front of us, after that we were just in shock.”
Many residents said they did as much as they could to limit damage, as tying up boats and securing loose furniture did little good.
There are no reports of injuries, with about 700 people in the area still waiting to have power restored.
With a report from CTV Ottawa’s John Hua