Possible tornado causes damages in Quebec’s Laurentians

A possible tornado caused severe damage Tuesday evening near Harrington, in the Laurentians.

After a day marked by several “marginally severe” thunderstorms, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) stated the “main threat is pretty much over.”

“We highly suspect a tornado occurred in the Laurentians area, specifically in the Harrington and Lake McDonald area,” said Kate Leclerc, an ECCC meteorologist. “There has been a campsite that might have been affected by the tornado. And that would have been around 5:30 to 5:45 p.m. according to our radar imagery.”

A tornado signature was reportedly observed from Bell Falls to Lake Macdonald between 5:24 p.m. and 5:42 p.m. A severe thunderstorm warning, mentioning possible tornadoes, had already been in effect since the start of the day.

“From what we could see from the damage, a lot of snapped trees at the base, that’s usually an indication of pretty severe winds,” said Leclerc. “Of course, our partners, the NTP (Northern Tornadoes Project), are going to do a more in-depth analysis and they’re going to be able with their expertise to determine exactly was it like 100, 120, 140 kilometres per hour. And that’s going to help determine the type of tornado.”

Leclerc says understanding the safety precautions when preparing for a tornado is essential.

“Best way to prepare is to take shelter immediately in the most solid infrastructure,” she warned. “A lot of times it happens in rural forest areas in camping sites, it happens a lot. So that’s hard to find shelter when most of your infrastructure is not solidly in foundation. But still, just find the best that you can and take shelter immediately. And even if there’s not an alert to take shelter as well, if you start seeing signs of threatening skies and that you’re feeling like, OK, this is not your normal thunderstorm because unfortunately not all tornadoes are going to be warned and that’s just a reality we have to face.”

According to ECCC meteorologist Dominic Martel, the tornado is believed to have “moved a house,” destroyed a small wooded area, and knocked down Hydro-Québec power poles as it passed.

“When we look at the map of power outages, it matches perfectly with the path of the rotation we detected on the radar,” said Martel. “There will be a follow-up investigation… and then we’ll release the information we find, but it’s pretty certain that it was a (tornado).”

Weather conditions calmed down Tuesday evening, and severe thunderstorm watches were lifted for most regions of Quebec.

“There are no longer any storms of concern; there are still some in the St. Lawrence Valley, near Montreal, and in the Pontiac area, but nothing to worry about for now,” Martel said. “The main threat is pretty much over for today.”

Some residents say the damage from the possible tornado is extensive.

“A lot of damage, there was a whole pine forest that was just obliterated, the whole thing,” said Roland Brisset, resident of Harrington. “And some people at the campsite were caught because all the trees were over one another and they couldn’t get out. So this morning, there were people with chainsaws cutting through to let them out.

“The tornado came in this direction. So all the trees, you can see the big birch tree there. It’s falling in that direction. But the size of that birch tree, if it were to fall this way, it might have taken some of my house.”

Brisset says the potential tornado causes worry for the future.

“A little bit anxious but I mean, this is just the beginning,” he said. “We know climate change is going to bring a lot of bad stuff. And this is one of them. Like, it used to be very rare. You wouldn’t hear about tornadoes or stuff like that in Quebec.”

Doris Girard Legault says she was camping with her family in Harrington when the tornado hit, and she was worried for their safety as trees and an awning collapsed on them.

“It was really intense,” said Legault. “We thought we were going to get crushed—me, the kids, and my mom. We pulled my mom and the dog toward us so we could huddle together and hold on. It lasted about a minute and a half, maybe two minutes. When we opened our eyes, everything had been destroyed to the ground. It was terrible. There are some pine trees over there. It was like a razor blade took them out. My father wasn’t with us. We looked for him for a while. We thought he was dead.”

Legault says she didn’t have phone reception at the Camping Val Caroll so they did not know the tornado was coming.

“It started raining and getting windy. Then, all of a sudden, some trees fell on my partner’s vehicle. Trees started falling. We were under a protective roof, an aluminum awning that’s super sturdy. The whole thing collapsed on top of us. We managed to squeeze our way to the back to get out. But we could see the trees whizzing past us, like dandelions.”

“We could see pieces of debris flying past us—fallen trees, branches—and we didn’t even get a scratch,” added Legault. “We’re really lucky. We prayed.”

—With files from La Presse Canadienne