On Saturday, a line of powerful thunderstorms tore across the most populous corridor of Canada – leaving a trail of destruction. The storms caused severe loss to property and infrastructure, killing at least 10 people and leading to power outages up to nearly a million residents.
The thunderstorms tracked from Southern Ontario to Southeast Quebec, passing close to or directing through three of Canada’s four largest cities: Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. Many areas including Pearson International Airport, the largest airport in the country, recorded wind gusts up to 75 mph.
According to Environment Canada, the country’s weather and climate agency, the storms caused multiple fatalities due to the strong winds. The organization also reported extensive damage to trees, buildings and power lines causing widespread outages.
On Saturday, approximately 925,000 residents faced outages in Ontario and Quebec – a massive event for a nation with just over 38 million citizens.
As per the SPC, the storm complex qualified as a derecho. Historically, far southeast Canada witnesses approximately 1 derecho event in four years. However, Saturday’s event was unusually far northeast and hit at an uncommon time of the year – signalling a climate change-related trend in the location of such damaging thunderstorm events.
