Brief, powerful storm slams Kitchener, Ontario
theweathernetwork.com
Sunday, July 28, 2013, 4:03 PM - A brief, but powerful storm shook isolated Kitchener, Ontario neighbourhoods on Saturday, while downing trees and flooding streets with debris.
For the most part, Saturday's thunderstorms across southern Ontario were nothing to bark about, except for one in particular that turned severe as it crossed Kitchener at about 10:40 PM EDT.
Storm damage was reported in areas stretching roughly from the intersection of Jack and Patricia across King and Wellington, towards Duke and Louisa. The most significant damage was found in the Cherry and Strange street area. Damage included downed trees, moved storage sheds, as well as a large rooftop air conditioning unit that was removed from a plaza and thrown over 50 metres.
"A cold front was going through the area, that's why there were thunderstorms," explained Gerald Cheng, a meteorologist at The Weather Network. "No watches or warnings were issued by Environment Canada, however we had always known some of the thunderstorms could reach severe limits."
An Environment Canada survey team investigated the area on Sunday and concluded that the damage was caused by straight line winds and not from a tornado.
It is estimated that the winds gusted to near 100 km/h at the height of the storm.
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STORM UPDATE (1/2): Sun, July 28, 2:45 pm Meteorologist Rob Kutz fr Environment Canada has determined that the storm was straight line wind
— City of Kitchener (@CityKitchener) July 28, 2013
@weathernetwork in Kitchener last night's storm #onstorm pic.twitter.com/U6VMrLdT2l
— Greg Bignell™ (@bigsssy) July 28, 2013
RT @givetashrecord: A tree crushed the attic, front windows of this Wellington St house #kitchener #onstorm pic.twitter.com/37D5fhPRUk
— WR Record (@WR_Record) July 28, 2013
Crazy RT @MurieBrad: Air conditioner off beer store roof, about 100m away. Moved from king St apparently #onstorm pic.twitter.com/WMWvXeMp6V
— Jason Thistlethwaite (@jasonthistle) July 28, 2013
