Twinken Parkette: The Storm

A sudden storm on a sunny, hot Saturday afternoon.

After a Super Sunny morning in Waterloo, after hubby's karting session. We were just strolling in Fairview, completing our Baby Registry to activate the gift cards we got from the Baby Show... meanwhile, the storm hit.

Fast and furious.

Three houses away from ours -- a big, I mean BIG branch of a tree got knocked down, most of the street was blocked by it. We were shocked to see the scene. Most of the neighbourhood went without power. 6 poles at Kennedy/Finch were knocked down, the intersection is still closed today.

As recorded on Toronto Star:
100-km/h winds down hydro wires and cause blackouts for thousands

Yesterday's beach weather ended abruptly when a severe thunderstorm pummelled the city, tearing down hydro lines and leaving thousands of homes in the dark.

A sudden change from a balmy 26C to a furious downpour happened about 5 p.m. and left the city's emergency services scrambling.

One man was rushed to Sunnybrook hospital with serious head injuries after a flying 20-kilogram sign, ripped loose by the storm's 100-km/h gusts, struck him near Kennedy Rd. and Sheppard Ave. E.
An EMS official said the strong winds caused dozens of injuries across the city, blowing cyclists off their bikes and knocking over pedestrians.

On Lake Ontario, the police marine unit rescued several stranded people after the winds overturned sailboats and a kayak. No injuries were reported.

Toronto firefighters responded to more than 35 cases of downed electrical wires during the storm.
The worst outages were in Scarborough and Etobicoke, where several thousand homes and businesses were without power.

As recorded on CP24:

Thousands without power after storm, clean up begins

Summer like temperatures gave way to brief but furious storms on Saturday that knocked out power to thousands in the GTA and across the province.
There's head turning damage in parts of the city as Toronto Hydro crews tackle the big job of replacing utility poles that were toppled by the strong winds yesterday.

Finch and Kennedy Avenues was one area that was hard hit with six poles broken. Another half dozen were knocked down on Midland Avenue near St. Clair Avenue.

Toronto hydro says the parts of Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough were hardest hit with power problems. Up to 10,000 customers were without power in the city last night. On Sunday morning the figure is near 1,500.

Power was also knocked out in other parts of the GTA, including Vaughan and Markham.
The storms that ripped across the GTA caused damaged in other parts of the province as well.
A farm in Breslau, east of Kitchener, was heavily damaged by the powerful winds. Luckily no one was injured and 15 horses in a barn were not harmed. The storm did damage equipment needed by the family for spring planting.
Near Sarnia, a 15-year-old girl was lucky to escape serious injury when she was struck by lightning. It happened as she was leading two horses to shelter from the storm.
Eastern Ontario was also slammed by the storm. About 10,000 customers lost power in Ottawa. Fourteen private planes were damaged or destroyed at Ottawa's Rockcliffe Flying Club as the wind flipped several of them over.

AND...

4900 Yonge Street sustained severe damage to the roof structure as a result of the storm. The roof of the south west corner was lifted and flipped over. In the process, ripped all the stacks for the boilers, roof drain, domestic hot water and crashed on the cooling tower. The building's cooling and heating system were badly damaged. The building will be closed tomorrow.