A possible tornado causes damages in Quebec’s Laurentians

A possible tornado reportedly caused “severe damage” Tuesday afternoon near Harrington, in the Laurentians.

After a day marked by several “marginally severe” thunderstorms, Environment And Climate Change Canada (ECCC) states that 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, Meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada. “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 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 kilometers 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,” warned Leclerc. “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, okay, 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.”

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews