OSHAWA — Residents were picking up the pieces on Saturday afternoon after a tornado damaged homes and took down trees in south Oshawa
The majority of the damage occurred in the Outlet Drive, Ritson Road South and Madawaska Avenue area and Durham police say no one was hurt in the tornado that hit just before 2:25 p.m.
“It appears a tornado has touched down in the south end of Oshawa here,” said DRPS staff sergeant Dan McKinnon. “A lot of damage has been done to some houses, some trees have been clearly ripped out of the ground, some trees have been put through some cars, into some homes.”
Sgt. McKinnon said officers were trying to assess how many properties were damaged, but said it could be up to 100 in some form.
“The good news is that there’s been no injuries at this point and right now we’re in recovery mode and just trying to help the people the best we can.”
Zack Roberts, of Lindsay, was visiting friends on Outlet Drive when it happened.
“We were playing beer pong and I heard sort of whistling sounds and I come out and look and I just see this tornado barrelling through here, and I tell these guys,” he said gesturing to his friends. “And we come outside and everything’s down, we see the neighbour’s house is wide open so we go get some tarps to cover that up, cover the roof.”
Mr. Roberts and a group of men helped several neighbours get tarps up after shingles were blown off roofs and brickwork was damaged and helped moved trees of the road.
“The thing was big, it was halfway in the backyard and halfway out the front and it just come through.”
Warren Wharton who lives at 1424 Outlet Dr. got home just before 2:30 p.m. to see the destruction.
“As I came on to the street, I’m like what the hell’s going on here, it’s like a war zone, everything was down, the trees are down, this guy’s got his car damaged over there, there’s a tree on his car. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”
Some of the shingles were pulled off Mr. Wharton’s roof, which neighbours helped cover with a tarp.
“A lot of people’s shed tops, and shingles were flying all over,” said Mr. Wharton.
By Reka Szekely
Photo by Justin Greaves “OSHAWA — Damaged trees were thrown across the road and several homes were damaged at Outlet Drive in Oshawa following a tornado. Here, Rob Harrington cleaned up his front yard. August 13, 2016.”
