Thunderstorm spawns tornadic activity, power outages in SD&G

In this Aug. 14, 2016, file photo, a thunderstorm rolls into the region along Highway 401 in South Stormont, Ont. (Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston, File)

SD&G – A brief but intense line of thunderstorms Wednesday afternoon prompted Environment Canada to briefly issue tornado warnings for northern sections of SD&G.

The storm also knocked out power to hundreds.

The area had been under a severe thunderstorm watch most of the day (the watch ended around 3:30 p.m.) as the region dealt with another hot, humid day.

The storm line passed through around 2 p.m. when Environment Canada detected that there may have been a tornado north of Maxville.

Meteorologist Peter Kimbell tells Cornwall Newswatch there has been reports of damage in areas north and west of SD&G.

“We have seen photos of a destroyed barn in Smiths Falls and have reports of some roof damage in the Casselman area,” Kimbell said in an email to Newswatch.

Kimbell says the bulletins were based on radar imagery and no on-the-ground reports of a tornado. “It is quite possible that no tornado actually formed and the damage was caused by strong straight-line winds,” he said.

The storm also caused power outages.

The City of Cornwall had an outage around 2:19 p.m. The “large outage” affected the south half of the city and Cornwall Island, Cornwall Electric tweeted. The cause of the outage was not disclosed though the area was being buffeted by high winds at the time.

Power was restored in the city by 3:35 p.m.

Meanwhile in the United Counties, Hydro One says around 2,000 customers in the Maxville area are without power. The power is scheduled to be back on around 4:15 p.m.

There are also 200 customers around Martintown and 200 in and around Alexandria that are not expected to be restored until after 5 p.m.