Scenes from the aftermath of Ottawa’s latest tornado

Thousands of customers remain in the dark in western Quebec Friday morning after severe thunderstorms rolled through the area late Thursday evening.

As of 6 p.m., Hydro Québec said there were more than 2,000 customers without power in the Outaouais. There were also a handful of outages in the Ottawa area for Hydro One customers.

Environment Canada also confirmed a tornado formed in Metcalfe, a rural community in Ottawa’s south end.

This latest tornado comes less than a month after four touched down in eastern Ontario, including two in the west-end community of Barrhaven, on July 13.

People in the area reported seeing hail, chairs, garbage bins and barbecues flying, and large trees being uprooted. 

A team from the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) arrived in Ottawa Friday afternoon and will determine what rating to give this particular tornado according to the enhanced Fujita scale.

The tornado’s wind speed can be determined based on structural damage on the ground, said Connell Miller, an engineering researcher for the NTP. 

So far, Miller said Thursday’s tornado was significant, but had a weaker intensity than the two that hit Barrhaven last month. 

“You see some minor shingle damage here, some minor soffit damage, some decent sized trees that are down, but nothing like an entire subdivision missing a good chunk of their roofs like you saw in the previous tornado there,” he said. 

The two tornadoes that hit Barrhaven were classified EF-1.

Miller said Ottawa is a tornado prone area, but research is still underway to determine why that is. Residents should be prepared to take safety precautions when the risk of a tornado does arrive. 

“Don’t wait for the warnings,” he said. 

“Have some sort of awareness of when the severe storms might come in your area and have a plan to go to your basement and have enough food and water down there that would last you 48 hours without power.”

Here are some photos and video of the damage from the latest storm.

Environment Canada confirmed a tornado formed in rural south Ottawa Thursday evening.