'Felt like Armageddon': The perfect storm slams Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Aurora

Power still out in parts of Aurora and other neighbourhoods

Yorkregion.com
May 24, 2022
Kim Zarzour

It's chainsaws and candlelight -- not hotdogs and fireworks⁠ -- for many York Region residents this Victoria Day weekend.

Hurricane-force winds that seemed to "come out of nowhere" uprooted trees onto cars, ripped shingles from roofs and sent debris strewn across Vaughan, Thornhill, Richmond Hill, Aurora, Newmarket and Markham on May 21.

At the height of the storm on Saturday afternoon, 119,000 customers were without power, Alectra Utilities spokesperson John Friesen said.

York Region and Peel Region were among the hardest hit areas, with Vaughan bearing the brunt, Friesen said.

In York, 79,000 customers lost power -- 30,000 of them were in Vaughan.

Markham, Richmond Hill and parts of Aurora were also badly impacted, but by early Sunday afternoon, all but 11,000 people had service restored.

Power lines and transformers across the Alectra service territory were damaged due to high winds and large poles that were snapped in half, he said.

Winds were clocked at 120-130 km/h, leaving wide-scale damage in its wake.

“It came through as a wall,” Friesen added. “I've seen a lot of storms. This was one of the biggest.”

Friesen said hydro crews were tag-teaming throughout the night, reallocating workers from other parts of the territory.

“We’re using every resource we can get our hands on,” he said.

Because of the scale of the damage, it’s too early to predict when power will be fully restored, he said, but Alectra is updating its map this afternoon with more accurate restoration times.

No tornadoes were reported, but AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter said there were "derechos" -- which are known for their ability to produce widespread and damaging wind gusts for eight hours or longer.

The weather event is likely to be remembered as one of the most impactful, if not most impactful, thunderstorm complexes to affect Canada, he said.

"What was astonishing was how it carved a laserlike precision path from southwest to northeast along Canada’s most densely populated area, impacting parts of the country’s largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, among many other communities.

"In many ways this was the 'perfect storm' in terms of creating the most danger and impacts."

At least seven casualties resulted from the powerful storms hitting Ontario and Quebec, six of which were in Ontario due to downed trees.

That includes a 44-year-old man, a woman in her 70s who was out walking, a 59-year-old man on a golf course and a person who was killed in their camping trailer.

Additionally, a woman in Quebec died after she was caught in a boat that capsized in the midst of the storm, AccuWeather reported on May 22.

York Regional Police reported no significant injuries locally.

AccuWeather estimates power outages in the most hard-hit areas may be long lasting -- possibly weeks in duration -- as power crews will need to rebuild some of the electrical infrastructure block by block.

Those who are still without power are encouraged to check on neighbours who may require assistance.

In Richmond Hill, residents were advised to steer clear of the Mill Pond park, while city staff worked to clear debris from the playground and surrounding areas.

Local councillor Raika Sheppard said in many of the historic areas, large, older trees were destroyed by the winds.

“Thankfully, everyone seems to be OK, and no one was hurt, not even the wildlife,” she said. “The biggest frustration is not having electricity.”

In the village core, restaurant owners had to close down for the weekend and were worried about perishables spoiling if the outage dragged on, she said.

Sheppard is hoping to organize a community group to help elderly residents who need assistance with cleaning up their properties.

For those who can help, or know of people who need help, she is advising them to email her at raika.sheppard@richmondhill.ca or call 437-421-6098.

In old Aurora, neighbours, trapped on their block by downed trees and wires, pulled together to help each other with the cleanup -- and doughnut and LCBO runs.

Deneena Davis, a Newmarket high school teacher, brought her chainsaw to neighbours whose homes were buried by century-old trees torn out by the roots.

One homeowner expressed relief: a large tree crashed through the nursery window just minutes before she planned to put their baby to bed.

Lisa Millar, too, was relieved an old maple missed their home.

Winds were so strong, she said, the family couldn't open their doors.

"All of a sudden the winds swirled, the sky turned green and I started shouting."

It was four minutes of fury, said Karen McLennan, whose plans to head out of town were kiboshed by the calamity.

"It looked like Armageddon here. Not the way we expected to spend Victoria Day weekend."