Robert Fisher
Staff Reporter
RENFREW COUNTY – A major storm, the second of the spring/summer, tore through eastern Ontario Saturday night, leaving thousands without power, downing hundreds of trees and sending at least four to hospital with serious injuries. Another serious storm, including multiple downdraft events, cut through Maynooth and parts of Renfrew County on April 29 and caused extensive damage.
Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm warning just before 10 p.m. Saturday night. By 11 p.m. the sky was filled with a light show few have experienced accompanied by strong winds and possible tornadoes or microbursts. The Gazette contacted the Northern Tornadoes Project at Western University to find out if there were tornadoes. The agency informed the Gazette that the event appeared to be a downburst and, “does appear comparable in intensity with some of the strongest downburst damage NTP has seen to date.”
Power disruptions began around 11 p.m. and were widespread across eastern Ontario. Hydro One crews managed to bring some areas of Renfrew County back online by later Sunday afternoon and into the evening. Other areas were estimated to be without power for another 24 to 48 hours from mid-afternoon Sunday.
Several areas of Algonquin Provincial Park were hit and park staff were busy Sunday cutting downed trees and clearing campsites, and roads. Workers in the park, along with hydro and road maintenance workers were met with the first major heatwave of the summer which began Sunday afternoon with temperatures touching 30 degrees Celsius and humidex readings into the mid-to high-30s. The heatwave was forecasted to continue through Tuesday with temperatures moderating Tuesday night. Several communities, including Madawaska Valley, Killaloe/Hagarty/Richards, Brudenell/Lyndoch/Raglan and South Algonquin set up cooling centres for people to get some respite from the heat, access water and washroom facilities, and charge electronic devices.
Chief of Emergency Services for Renfrew County, Mike Nolan, told the Gazette his crews responded to five separate calls in Algonquin Provincial Park, two for campers stranded on islands with injuries from fallen trees.
The Renfrew County Paramedic Sierra Team, in concert with Upper Ottawa Valley OPP and park wardens responded to a call in the North Depot area of the park when a woman and her son were stranded on an island after a tree fell on their tent, injuring the 13-year-old boy.
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