Trees down, significant damage reported after tornado in Ayr, Ont.

Tornado watches and warnings have ended across Ontario.

Environment Canada issued a warning for the Region of Waterloo Saturday morning. The warning became a watch through the afternoon, and later became a special weather statement warning of significant rainfall.

Shortly after the warning was issued, a funnel cloud was reported in North Dumfries.

A possible tornado was reported in the area of Ayr, Ont. August 17, 2024. (Shelby Knox/CTV News)

Tornado near Ayr, Ont.

A tornado was spotted in Ayr, Ontario in the Greenfield Road and Northumberland Street area around 10:50 a.m. Saturday.

A team from Western University’s Northern Tornadoes Project travelled to Ayr and confirmed a tornado touched down.

David Sills, Executive Director of the Northern Tornadoes Project said, “In this case, there was so much video evidence. You can see the clear funnel cloud with debris rotating around it. We know it's a tornado. Our job here now is to read it. So on the [Enhanced Fujita] scale 0 to 5. And how long? How wide. Characteristics of it.”

By 11 p.m. Saturday night, the team from the Northern Tornadoes Project had classified the storm as an EF1 tornado.

Several trees snapped in half and drivers were forced to carefully navigate the debris strewn roads.

Greenfield Road was impassable as a large tree lay across the road and hydro lines drooped toward the ground.

The Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) confirmed the road was closed between Trussler Road and Northumberland Street due to the damaged hydro poles around 11:30 a.m. The road re-opened overnight, but crews continued clearing large fallen trees Sunday morning. North Dumfries Township said the Public Works Department will be re-deploying crews to Greenfield Road West on Monday to continue cutting up and removing damaged trees and haul away the limbs that have been piled at the side of the road. Greenfield Road West will be closed to traffic while crews are on scene.

A tree lays across Greenfield Road after a possible tornado was reported near Ayr, Ont. on August 17, 2024. (Shelby Knox/CTV News)

Resident Mary Jean Page said the tornado blew through quickly, and she is grateful her home wasn’t wrecked. “We’ve seen tornadoes go down the river many times. They seem to like the course of the river. I don’t know why that is.”

WRPS Public Information Officer Constable Melissa Quarrie said the first calls started coming in shortly after an emergency alert was sent out at 10:43 a.m.

“At that point, we started to receive calls from the community concerned. And the first call that we received about dangerous conditions or damages was at the Home Hardware in North Dumfries Township.

Assessing the damage

The Home Hardware store at the corner of Greenfield Road and Northumberland Street sustained significant damage, with portions of the roof and walls torn off the building.

Lumber could be seen flung about the parking lot shortly after the storm passed through.

Part of the roof was torn off a Home Hardware location at the corner of Greenfield Road and Northumberland Street in North Dumfries after a potential tornado moved through the area on August 17, 2024. (Hannah Schmidt/CTV News)

Quarrie said despite the damage, everyone at the store was able to make it out unharmed.

“We’re really happy about that, as I’m sure are family, friends and co-workers. We did receive a call about the structure being damaged and the roof being partially torn off. The information that we have at this time is that there were two customers as well as employees in the store at the time. However they were all able to get out of the building safely.”

The North Dumfries Fire Department was called to the business due to the smell of natural gas.

Some homeowners told CTV News Kitchener their trees were torn up by the roots.

A tree is seen torn up from its roots after a potential tornado passed through North Dumfries near Ayr, Ont. on August 17, 2024. (Hannah Schmidt/CTV News)

In a news release, the Township of North Dumfries said the township’s sports park, Cowan Park, was extensively damaged in the storm and has been closed on an indefinite basis. The North Dumfries Community Complex was closed for the remainder of the weekend. The complex will reopen on Monday at 7 a.m. and will resume normal business hours. However, the dog park, community garden and beach volleyball courts remain closed pending reassessment. The township said a potential timeline for reopening will be sent out on Tuesday.

The township said wellness checks were performed at high impact properties, and as of 2 p.m. Saturday, no injuries had been reported.

WRPS said it had received reports of a train derailment in the area with several rail cars flipped over. They said there are no reports of hazardous material spills and railway employees were managing the clean up.

Broken trees are seen in the Greenfield Road area after a possible tornado was reported near Ayr, Ont. on August 17, 2024 (Shelby Knox/CTV News)

Dangerous behaviour

WRPS said the tornado was not the only potentially dangerous situation residents in the area were contending with.

“We did, through our partners at the OPP, hear reports of dangerous driving behaviours happening on the 401 during that time in North Dumfries,” Quarrie said. “We don’t have any specific information about that, but we do encourage members of the public if they are driving and a tornado is imminent, you’re encouraged to stop your vehicle and get out and go to a place of low lying area, like a ditch, to be as safe as possible.

A piece of debris sits at the side of the road and several damaged trucks are seen in the background after a tornado touched down near Ayr, Ontario on August 17, 2024. (Shelby Knox/CTV News)

Cleaning up and finding support

Cleanup has begun for many people living in the area.

Approximately 2,500 customers lost power shortly after the tornado moved through. On Sunday, the township said some isolated homes may still be without power because work is required from prviate contractors to ensure service can be safely restored.

The township also asked drivers to avoid the Greenfield Road area while cleanup efforts continue. Traffic congestion along Northumberland Street between Alps Road and the east leg of Greenfield Road had been hindering emergency crews as they tried to complete tasks.

Meanwhile, some people are turning to the community to find support after their frightening ordeal.

The township said a grocery store, Ayr Foodland, donated bottled water to crews working on cleaning up the damage and to Greenfield Road residents who were impacted by the storm and use a well system.

Resident Geoff Wheeler said he and his family ran into the basement when they received the emergency alert. Now that the danger has passed, he is focused on rebuilding.

“We all stick together during this. I think we all have a good community, good neighbours. We’ll help each other out for the next little while.