EF1 tornado confirmed in Wellesley Township, 2 others confirmed in Tavistock

EF1 tornado confirmed in Wellesley Township, 2 others confirmed in Tavistock

An EF1 tornado touched down in Wellesley Township, just north of Wellesley

Researchers have confirmed that a tornado touched down just north of Wellesley during a large storm last Wednesday, which swept over southwestern Ontario.

Two tornadoes and a downburst were also confirmed in Tavistock.

In a Facebook post, Northern Tornadoes Project researchers rated the tornado EF1 based on damage, including parts of a barn roof being removed and thrown, crop damage and a converted refrigerated trailer moved from its original location.

They say a brief tornado debris signature was detected on radar.

The NTP blog says the tornado began at around 5:30 p.m., travelling east over six kilometres.

Two more tornadoes and a downburst were confirmed by the NTP in Tavistock.

One tornado, near Shakespeare, was rated at EF1 and travelled southeast. Researchers say it caused significant damage to agricultural structures and trees, and a clear path could be seen through some crops.

The other was rated EF0 and began west of Tavistock before travelling into the town.

Damage from the downburst, which travelled 17 kilometres, was rated at EF0. A downburst occurs when strong winds descend beneath a storm and create wind damage.

Most of the tree damage in Wellesley Township was caused by straight-line winds, which the NTP says was part of a larger swath of wind damage from south of Goderich to Brantford.

The storm caused damage throughout southwestern Ontario, including flooding and damage in Toronto.

Wellesley Township saw "significant damage," according to Wellesley Mayor Joe Nowak.

"I was told there were five barns that have been destroyed, not totally destroyed ... apparently there were no injuries, no animals were hurt," Nowak told CBC News.

He says four residents were displaced from a regional housing complex in the Village of Wellesley, after a tree fell on the roof.

"I’ve been in touch with the region on that issue and they’ve had at least four residents … that have to be moved to another accommodation, at least temporarily," Nowak said.

One Waterloo resident told CBC News that the storm brought strong winds "out of the blue."

Jack Meilleur lives on Helene Crescent and said the wind lasted about 10 minutes, flipping over his gazebo, breaking off large branches from a tree in his backyard and displacing the furniture in his yard.

Waterloo Regional Police Service says it received 64 calls on Sept. 2 related to dangerous conditions caused by the storm, including downed trees and power lines, traffic signal outages and localized flooding.

Lauren Kuivenhoven is a reporter at CBC K-W. She loves hearing from the community and is open to stories at lauren.kuivenhoven@cbc.ca.