The skies darkened to a green hue, the winds escalated abruptly, and then chaos ensued.
Residents of Windsor and Essex County found themselves in a cleanup effort Thursday night following a fierce storm that swept through the area, with Environment Canada indicating radar evidence of a tornado.
In Riverside, uprooted trees, downed power lines, and debris littered the roads. For many homeowners, the storm inflicted considerable damage.
Vanessa Bessette observed the storm as it approached her neighborhood, noting how swiftly the situation shifted.
“The sky turned green, and everything fell silent,” Bessette recounted to CBC Windsor. “Then, suddenly, the winds surged so rapidly that visibility dropped to zero.”
This residence on Ford Boulevard is enveloped in debris following the tornado that struck Windsor’s Riverside area. (Dalson Chen/CBC)
She described the rain and wind as resembling “a massive sheet of glass, like fog in front of you,” rendering it impossible to see.
Bessette mentioned that her neighborhood had received several tornado warnings prior to the storm, including alerts on residents’ mobile devices and televisions.
Additionally, she heard tornado sirens sounding from Detroit.
“Take those alerts seriously,” Bessette advised. “Take them seriously, especially living this close to the water.”
The storm left a path of destruction throughout the area.
Essex-Windsor EMS reported that paramedics attended to a few minor injuries on Thursday due to the extreme weather. The Windsor Police Service confirmed a single minor injury resulting from broken glass.
The thunderstorm on Thursday caused trees to fall, some landing in people’s homes and driveways. (Submitted by Susan Cassady)
A large pine tree was uprooted and became entangled with power lines, resulting in a power outage in the street. Bessette noted that a swing set was thrown into a tree, and a trampoline from a nearby street also ended up caught in the branches.
According to Bessette, a shed was dislodged from its foundation and tossed across the street, while a portion of a streetlight also fell.
One of the most alarming occurrences happened next door to Bessette.
A large tree crashed through her neighbor’s living room, narrowly missing the occupant inside.
“She had received the alert and was just about to head to her basement when it happened,” Bessette recounted. “As she was going down, she heard glass shattering around her, unaware that a tree had breached her living room.”
Vanessa Bessette mentions that residents had expressed concerns about a large tree near their homes prior to the storm. (CBC News)
Fortunately, Bessette reported that the woman was unharmed and was taken to safety by her family.
Bessette added that residents had voiced concerns about that tree in the past, reaching out to the city multiple times over the years.
“We’ve likely submitted five to six complaints, but they keep saying, ‘Oh, it’s healthy,’ and just come to trim it,” she explained.
However, she noted that large branches continued to fall during storms.
Now, Bessette hopes that the remaining trees will be thoroughly evaluated.
“They need to come and assess them, and those that are hollow like this one need to be removed,” she stated.
My neighbor sent me a message saying that it doesn’t look good and there’s a tree that fell on your house.Danny Truong, Windsor resident
The destruction was widespread beyond Bessette’s street.
Danny Truong returned home to find a large tree had fallen onto his house.
“My neighbor sent me a message saying that it doesn’t look good and there’s a tree that fell on your house,” Truong shared with CBC News.
Upon his arrival, he discovered that a massive tree had collapsed where his car was parked and had broken through the living room.
“There’s a huge hole in my living room right now,” he remarked.
An old willow tree in Reaume Park lies, destroyed by the tornado that ripped through the area on Thursday afternoon. Its commemorative plaque, also uprooted by the tornado’s force, states it was planted in 1953. (Dalson Chen/CBC)
Truong, who has resided in the neighborhood for approximately nine years, said he had never encountered anything like this before.
“This is definitely completely different, totally insane,” he commented.
Storm united the community
He was getting ready to contact his insurance provider and arrange for damage assessment. With the power out, he was also contemplating finding temporary accommodation.
“It clearly doesn’t seem safe,” Truong noted. “My bedroom is just right there. So… I’m not sure I would risk it.”
Similar to Bessette, Truong stated the tree that caused damage to his property was a city tree that residents had previously sought to have removed.
Despite the extensive damage caused by the storm, residents remarked that it also fostered a sense of community.
Bessette mentioned that neighbors collaborated to clear trees from the road to enable traffic flow.
“This is a community. We care for one another,” she commented.
Danny Truong returned home to find a large tree had fallen through his house. (CBC)
Truong noted that neighbors checked in on him and offered assistance.
“Neighbors were inquiring if I was okay and if I needed anything,” he reported. “They’re all very helpful, doing their best to assist.”
Chris Gillis was at work when he received a call from a neighbor urging him to return home.
Upon his arrival, he found his swing lodged in a tree.
“That swing is up there in the tree,” Gillis stated.
Gillis mentioned that several individuals in the neighborhood stopped by to check on him and offered their help.
For those who lived through the storm, the devastation served as a crucial reminder of the need to heed severe weather warnings.
Bessette noted that residents were rattled, especially some seniors who had lived in the area for many years.
“People who have lived here their entire lives have said they’ve never experienced anything like this,” she remarked.
Power outages affecting hundreds
Hundreds were without electricity Friday morning as the cleanup efforts progressed following the tornado that passed through Windsor and McGregor on Thursday evening.
At 1:30 p.m., ENWIN’s outage map indicated three ongoing outages in the Riverside area, impacting 372 customers.
The outage map also identified four active outages in Pillette, affecting 559 customers. ENWIN indicated that this outage remains under investigation, with no estimated restoration time available for the community.
An outage impacting 27 customers in Fountainbleu and another affecting 57 customers in South Central are also under investigation.
Thousands of customers experienced power outages for varying durations on Thursday, predominantly in the southern and western parts of Windsor and neighboring LaSalle, following the storm’s passage.
In a message posted on X, ENWIN stated that their crews are actively working on restoration efforts following the severe weather of the previous day.
The utility company expects most affected customers to regain power by 7 p.m. Friday.
“Restoration may take longer in areas where there is significant or isolated damage,” ENWIN stated in their social media update.
Traffic lights malfunctioning
Meanwhile, the Windsor Police Service reported that several traffic lights are either flashing or completely nonfunctional.
“Motorists should treat these lights as four-way stops; come to a complete stop, then proceed with caution when you have the right of way and the crosswalk is clear of pedestrians,” police advised in a morning post on X.
