Tornadoes aren’t just for wide open fields anymore.
During the wild weather night on Thursday, reports came in of twister sightings on Jarvis Street in downtown Toronto. That is a rare occasion indeed but as Derek rightly pointed out, a tornado doesn’t know whether it’s in a city or the country! The City of Vaughan got smacked by the whirling winds and hundreds of homes may be so damaged that they’ll have to come down.
Growing up in Smithville, I saw first hand devastation brought on by tornadoes. When Woodstock was struck many years ago, our back yard a solid hour’s drive away was littered with receipts from one of the stores that was taken down by the wind. We are truly at the mercy of nature, aren’t we? A couple in Vaughan took some very compelling video of an approaching tornado on Thursday night…from behind a wall of glass! Sure, it was fascinating but I would be happy enough to never have seen it if they had been smart enough to take shelter instead of trying to be newshounds. No, they didn’t get hurt…but it was still a dumb choice to make!
Back in the mid-80’s when I lived in London the first time around, we had a night like last Thursday. My first husband, Kevin, had never seen a twister and he was fascinated by the storm. We lived in a tall and skinny townhouse and I vividly recall his nose pressed against the upstairs window as the sky turned that telling shade of blue-grey-black. I convinced him to move back to the wall away from the glass, just in case, but he wouldn’t leave the room – he was transfixed! It sounded like a freight train rumbled overhead, even from the basement where I rode out the storm on my own.
The next day we picked up the Free Press which had an image of the tornado’s path. It went right over our townhouse! Several homes a few blocks away had been destroyed but the twister had lifted off the ground when it got to our complex. Had it been a bit lower, Kevin surely would have been killed. His response? “Cool!” I didn’t share his enthusiasm!
My heart goes out to all of those who were affected by the storms. It’s a wild and unpredictable time of year. Stay safe and for goodness sake, if you have the choice, stay out of the storm’s way!