Environment Canada has confirmed that there was an F1 tornado between Cambridge and Burlington during the stormy weather Wednesday night.
Winds between 120 and 170 kilometres per hour were reported. The track was approximately 15 kilometres long and 300 metres wide with the greatest damage in the area of Kirkwall.
Environment Canada says there were several reports of funnel clouds and possible tornadoes during the storms, but a decision on whether to send crews to other areas will be made after damage reports are received.
Meanwhile Hydro One is slowly restoring power to the 25,000 customers throughout southern Ontario who lost it after Wednesday night's storms.
Residents across the region had quite the show as watches and warnings were issued throughout the afternoon and evening.
Cambridge residents cleaning up
The south end of Cambridge felt the strongest effects of the storm, with trees, branches and power lines down and some houses damaged.
People in the area are now cleaning up and say they know they're lucky, comparing the damage to the devastation following Sunday's tornado in Goderich, but it was still quite a scare.
Richard Saris lives on Concession Street in Cambridge, he says "We were inside watching the storm, watching the lightning and all of a sudden we heard a crack. The wind picked up and within a minute the wind was gone and we came out and it looked like a war zone out here."
Saris expects the cleanup will take a few days, but says that's nothing compared to what faces the residents of Goderich, where an F3 tornado hit on the weekend.
"It could have been a lot worse. If it was anything like Goderich, we'd be in trouble, but thank goodness it wasn't."
The cleanup is happening in other areas of Cambridge as well.
The Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) is asking people to stay off the Cambridge to Paris Rail Trail as it is cleared after fallen trees made the route dangerous.
The GRCA's Cam Linwood says the trail is completely blocked, "People have to head off the trail to get around them and there could still be some trees hanging over the trail that they just don't see."
The trails are expected to be cleared by the weekend.