A new video of a tornado that touched down in Ayr, Ont., nearly two weeks ago was released by the Township of North Dumfries.
The video is security camera footage from the North Dumfries Community Complex of the EF1 tornado tearing through Cowan Park, which the township says has been indefinitely closed due to the damage.
“We are sharing this to show you the force of the tornado and the extensive damage the park sustained,” a Facebook post by the township said.
“Clean up efforts by Woodhouse Group have been underway and inspections are taking place. Cowan Park is closed indefinitely and we kindly ask that the public stay away. Thank you for your patience and cooperation,” the post continued.
This video submitted by Jenna Hammond shows what the North Dumfries fire chief is calling a tornado touching down in Ayr, Ont. It reportedly caused heavy damage to a Home Hardware, according to Robert Shantz. This comes as a large area around the Waterloo region was under a tornado warning Saturday morning. There are no reports of injuries. Several surrounding businesses were evacuated.
A group of researchers from the Northern Tornadoes Project at Western University in London, Ont., confirmed the tornado as a category of EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which is used to measure tornado wind speeds based on damage.
Executive director David Sills said the tornado’s path was “just a bit” over five kilometres long, the path and the maximum width was 230 metres and the maximum wind speeds were about 165 km/h.
An EF1 tornado is considered a weak tornado, but Sills said it still managed to create a lot of damage in Ayr, including to the Home Hardware, overturning empty rail cars and a tractor-trailer, and damaging trees.
“When you get into [EF]2, 3, 4 and even 5, the damage gets catastrophic,” he said.
Still, Sills said, it may be the strongest tornado in the province so far this season.
