Possible tornado hits Danville as powerful storms sweep through Quebec
Posted June 20, 2025 7:55 am.
Last Updated June 20, 2025 5:54 pm.
A violent storm system may have spawned a tornado in Danville, located in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, as fierce winds ripped off sections of rooftops and caused widespread damage Thursday evening.
The severe weather came after Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued a thunderstorm watch for the Greater Montreal area, warning of potential tornado activity, damaging winds, hail, and intense rainfall between 50 and 100 millimetres.
“We’ve seen widespread damage to structures, uprooted trees, heavy rain,” said Steven Flisfeder, meteorologist at ECCC “We are not able at this time to confirm that it was a tornado, confirmation could come later in the day or by next week. There are signs of rotation indicated within the radar imagery that it could have been but we cant confirm yet.”
Flisfeder indicates that Environment Canada will review more radar footage and images taken at the time of the possible tornado activity.
“We are working in collaboration with the Northern Tornados Project,” said Flisfeder. “It’s a research group out of Western University in London, Ontario. They’re a group who do damage surveys on a regular basis to investigate whether or not tornadoes have occurred. They have advanced tools at their disposal, including reviewing satellite imagery after the fact.”
But residents like Michel Bernier said that they could see what looked like a tornado amidst the violent winds and heavy storms.
“Yes, well, I saw it, the tornado. I saw it spinning,” he said.
Tens of thousands of residents were left without power. Hydro-Québec reported approximately 20,000 power outages by late Thursday, and as of Friday morning, more than 16,000 homes and businesses were still without electricity.
“The wire, the high-voltage Hydro-Québec wire, the wire up high, the 25,000 volts, fell on my main power line,” Bernier said, “and it caught fire. It burned all my electrical appliances.”
“The roof was damaged, the shingles lifted,” added Danville resident Nicole Boivin. “My gazebo is finished, and further away, I had a 15-foot dog park that we just finished, built, and then everything was crushed, and underneath the trees.”
Conditions were ripe for the development of a supercell—a large, highly organized storm system. The risk of dangerous weather overnight was particularly elevated in the Eastern Townships, Montérégie, and Centre-du-Québec.
“For tornado confirmation, there is a weather summary that has been posted to our website that will be updated as new information comes in,” said Flisfeder. “So if you are interested, you can look for that throughout the days coming.”
Meanwhile, regions farther north—including Mauricie, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Outaouais, and the Laurentians—remained under alerts for periods of heavy rainfall into Friday.
On a brighter note, temperatures and humidity levels are expected to drop as the day progresses, bringing the weather back to more typical seasonal conditions.
“Tornadoes like that, really, we usually see them on television,” Bernier said, “and I prefer seeing them on television than seeing them normally. Because it’s really scary.”
-With files from Diona Macalinga
