A tornado touched down in Harrington late in the afternoon on Tuesday, July 21.
The Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) at Western University in London confirmed on Friday, July 24 that the tornado was given a preliminary rating of being at the high-end of the EF1 level on the five-level EF scale used to measure tornado severity. Researchers estimate that the maximum wind speed was 175 kilometres per hour.
NTP Director Dr. David Sills told The Review on Wednesday, July 22 that a survey team was travelling to Harrington that day and would begin its investigation on Thursday, July 23.
Environment Canada had issued storm warnings for the area and surrounding parts of the region around the same time on Tuesday afternoon.
According to Harrington Mayor Gabrielle Parr, at around 5:30 pm, the storm travelled northeast, damaging trees, snapping utility poles, and causing minor damage to buildings in an area from the Harrington Valley along chemin Harrington to chemin Johnson to Grand Lac MacDonald and easterly into Wentworth Nord. Parr said she was at home when the storm hit.
“The whole process took about 45 minutes,” she said.
Parr said there were fortunately no serious injuries resulting from the storm.
Thierry Fortuit and Sylvie Royer live in the Harrington Valley. Fortuit said at around 5:30 pm, he noticed the wind getting stronger from the southwest. He is convinced that a tornado touched down.
“We were in the tornado. It was extremely large,” he said.
At 10:30 pm Fortuit and Royer’s home and most of their yard on the side of a small hill were not damaged. However, a large apple tree was destroyed.
“It was so nice. It gave us thousands of apples,” Fortuit said about the fallen tree.
Nearby at Harrington Protestant (Shaw’s) Cemetery, there were many fallen trees surrounding the graveyard, and a few headstones were knocked over.
During the afternoon on Wednesday, July 22, Fortuit and Royer, along with many of their neighbours, were using a generator to provide some electricity for their homes.
At 10:30 pm on Tuesday, Hydro-Québec reported about 3,000 addresses in Harrington, Grenville-sur-la-Rouge, and Wentworth Nord did not have electricity. Parr said on Wednesday afternoon that 384 addresses in Harrington were still without electricity, but Hydro-Québec was hoping to have service restored late on Wednesday night. During the day on Wednesday, many Hydro-Québec line trucks were seen following roads into Harrington containing crews to help repair damage and get power going to homes and farms again. Early on Wednesday evening, the township reported that 30 Hydro-Québec line trucks were in Harrington with their crews repairing storm damage.
Parr said the Sûreté du Québec and CISSS des Laurentides regional health authority had staff working at the township office building on Wednesday to coordinate public safety efforts and assist vulnerable residents affected by the storm. She said that 66 per cent of the 80 kilometres of municipal roads in Harrington were affected by storm damage to trees, power, and telephone lines. Parr said 1,565 homes were affected, many of which are vacation homes.
“It covered the whole territory,” she remarked.
Neighbouring municipalities also sent assistance to Harrington. Parr said help arrived from fire departments and public works staff in Grenville-sur-la-Rouge, Brownsburg-Chatham, Lachute, Wentworth, and Gore.
“We were very fortunate to have so much assistance during this period,” Parr said. She said municipal Director-General Steve Deschenês and Director of Emergency Services Neil Swail acted instantly to coordinate an effective response to the damage from the storm.
The township reported early Wednesday evening that 90 people from various agencies were assisting with storm response in Harrington.
Exceptionally, the Ecocentre will accept all trees resulting from damage caused by the storm, regardless of diameter. However, tree stumps will not be accepted. The Ecocentre is open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and exceptionally on Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
During the storm, trees fell down at the CAMMAC Music Centre camp on Grand Lac MacDonald. The camp posted on social media that everyone at the site was safe and that an orchestra rehearsal continued as scheduled.
In addition to assistance from municipal authorities, Hydro-Québec, and police, Harrington residents assisted each other with cleaning up debris and repairs following the tornado.
Photos: James Morgan
