Advertisement

Tornado touchdown confirmed near Montreal

Environment Canada has confirmed an F-1 tornado touched down northwest of Montreal Friday night.

Meterologist René Héroux from Environment Canada said the tornado touched down in St-Benoît-de-Mirabel. Damage at the scene suggests winds reached up to 150 km/h, he said.

Trees were uprooted, roofs damaged and windows shattered as the severe storm rattled through southern Quebec Friday night.

The Mirabel area, northwest of Montreal, was hit the hardest.

A 200-year-old church collapsed in the storm, while pieces of metal from a farm’s silo were ripped off and dropped half a kilometre away.

The high winds toppled hydro poles, leaving many residents without power.

At the height of the storm, 30,000 Hydro-Québec customers were without power. Thirty-four crews were out throughout the night and, by 7 a.m. ET, power had been restored to all but 2,000 homes and businesses.

By noon, that number had been reduced to around 700. Marie-Noël Lacroix of Hydro Quebec said they expected all power to be restored by the end of the day.

Mirabel Mayor Hubert Meilleur told Radio-Canada the damage could reach several millions of dollars.

Storms also hit the Ottawa area. An 18-year-old cyclist took shelter under a tree in Vincent Massey Park and was struck by lightning.

Ottawa Police Sgt. Samuel Hill said the man and a female friend stopped under the tree to don raingear.

"You can see the area — it's thousands of trees," Hill said from the scene. "They just happened to stand under the wrong tree. It's just very bad luck."

Paramedics found the man unconscious and in cardiac arrest.

He was taken to hospital and is in critical condition.