‘One garage disappeared’: Suspected tornado touches down in southwestern Quebec
A suspected tornado that touched down in southwestern Quebec on Monday afternoon damaged homes and farm buildings, but a local fire official said no injuries have been reported.
Rigaud Fire Department acting chief Guillaume Roy said four homes were damaged, including one whose roof was ripped off, and a number of barns and grain silos were damaged, too.
“One garage disappeared and all the chickens in it — we don’t know where it went,” Roy said in a phone interview Monday night.
He said it was lucky no one was hurt.
Julie Lemieux, mayor of Très-Saint-Rédempteur, about eight kilometres southwest of Rigaud, said in a Facebook post that an apparent tornado had toppled trees and knocked out power in the area and Hydro-Québec crews were working to restore it.
The mayor advised residents to remain careful as another storm cell was expected to pass through the region later Monday night.
Environment Canada meteorologist Jean-Philippe Begin said a severe thunderstorm was passing through the Rigaud area at the time. He said the weather agency has received photo and video submissions from the public that show damage as well as what appears to be a tornado moving across a field, but he said they won’t be confirming it was actually a tornado until a further investigation is complete.
“I would say it’s likely a tornado — very likely a tornado — because we recognize the landscape on some pictures, so those images have been taken in Rigaud,” Begin said.
The investigation, Begin said, would be carried out in conjunction with the University of Western Ontario’s Northern Tornadoes Project, which late Monday night concluded that based on witness video and pictures, a tornado had occurred near Rigaud.
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