A possible tornado overturned a truck and uprooted several trees in Brossard, on Montreal’s South Shore, Wednesday night.
Strong winds overturned the semi-trailer on Matte Blvd. around 8 p.m., said Longueuil police (SPAL) spokesperson Mélanie Mercille.
The driver suffered minor injuries.
SPAL reported the incident on social media, describing how trees were uprooted and a truck was flipped over. The driver of the semi-truck suffered minor injuries.
“All the signs seem to point to the fact that it is a tornado,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Félix Biron.
Biron points out that a rotating column of air approached the ground before causing damage, signs that the storm is a tornado.
He adds that Environment Canada will investigate to be 100 per cent certain and to determine the strength of the possible tornado.
Richard Lee is a Brossard resident who witnessed the tornado. He filmed a video of it from his window and posted it to social media.
He said that he was following the weather radar, when suddenly the wind picked up and he saw a column of air spinning on Matte Blvd.
“For the first time in my life, I witnessed a tornado in person from my living room window. I was following attentively the weather radar because thunderstorms were forming in Greater Montreal and some were headed to Brossard,” Lee told CityNews in a written statement.
“Suddenly, the winds started to pick up, so I looked outside again and saw a column of air spinning behind the trees of Parc Lunan (Matte Blvd). At that moment, I realized it was tornado and started recording it with my phone believing it was a safe distance at that moment.”
Lee said he then took cover for five minutes, adding that it was not safe to stand by the window since debris was flying.
Matte Blvd. was closed to traffic between Highway 30 and du Quartier Blvd. and was reopened later Wednesday evening.
Over 3,500 customers were without power on the South Shore around 11 p.m. Wednesday.
The power was almost completely restored Thursday morning, with a few thousand customers still waiting in the Laurentians and Capitale-Nationale regions.
Heavy rain fell in southern Quebec on Wednesday evening, particularly in Montreal, the Laurentians, Lanaudière and Montérégie.
“The lights flickered. I saw some debris blown in the air including a big fabric which came close to our building. Unfortunately, no tornado warning was issued here because the tornado formed very quickly, and I believe it touched the ground briefly. I would have wanted my phone to ring with the tornado warning,” concluded Lee.
–With files from La Presse Canadienne