The sky turned green, the wind suddenly intensified and then the destruction began.
Residents across Windsor and Essex County were left cleaning up Thursday night after a powerful storm moved through the region, with Environment Canada saying its radar showed a tornado in the area.
In Riverside, trees were ripped from the ground, power lines were brought down and debris was scattered across streets. For some residents, the storm caused significant damage to their homes.
Vanessa Bessette watched the storm move through her neighbourhood and said the conditions changed almost instantly.
“The sky went green, everything went silent,” Bessette told CBC Windsor. “And then all of a sudden … the winds picked up so quick you couldn’t see anything.”
She described the rain and wind as looking like “one big sheet of glass. like fog in front of you” that made it impossible to see through.
Bessette said her neighbourhood had received multiple tornado alerts before the storm hit, including alerts on residents’ phones and television.
She said she also heard tornado sirens from across the border in Detroit.
“Take them serious,” Bessette said of the alerts. “Take them serious, especially when you live this close to the water.”
The storm left a trail of destruction through the neighbourhood.
Essex-Windsor EMS says paramedics treated a few minor injuries Thursday as a direct result of the severe weather. Windsor Police Service, meanwhile, says there one minor reported injury that was sustained from broken glass.
A large pine tree was uprooted and became tangled with an electrical wire, leaving the street without power. Bessette said a swing set ended up in a tree, while a trampoline on a nearby street was also thrown into the trees.
According to Bessette, a shed was ripped from the ground and moved across the street, while part of a streetlight also came down.
But one of the most frightening incidents happened next door to Bessette.
A large tree crashed through her neighbour’s living room, narrowly missing the woman inside.
“She had got the alert and had just gotten up and went to go into her basement and just missed it,” Bessette said. “As she was going into the basement she could hear glass breaking around her and didn’t realize the tree came through her living room.”
The woman was not injured, Bessette said, and was taken by family to another location.
Bessette said residents had complained about the tree before the storm, saying they had contacted the city several times over the years.
“We’ve probably put in at least five to six complaints and they just keep saying, ‘Oh, it’s healthy,’ and they come in, they trim it,” she said.
But she said large branches continued to fall during storms.
Now, Bessette said, she hopes the remaining trees are properly assessed.
“They need to come and assess them and those that are hollow like this one, they need to remove them,” she said.
My neighbour sends me a message saying that it doesn’t look good and there’s a tree that fell on your house.– Danny Truong, Windsor resident
The damage was not limited to Bessette’s street.
Danny Truong returned home to discover a large tree had fallen through his house.
“My neighbour sends me a message saying that it doesn’t look good and there’s a tree that fell on your house,” Truong told CBC News.
When he arrived, he found a giant tree had come down where his car was parked and crashed through the living room.
“There’s a huge hole in my living room right now,” he said.
Truong, who has lived in the neighbourhood for about nine years, said he had never experienced anything like it.
“This is definitely totally different, totally crazy,” he said.
Storm brought community together
He was preparing to contact his insurance company and arrange for an assessment of the damage. With the power out, he was also considering finding somewhere else to stay.
“It definitely doesn’t look safe,” Truong said. “My bedroom is literally just right there. So … I don’t know if I would risk it.”
Like Bessette, Truong said the tree that damaged his home was a city tree and that residents had previously wanted it removed.
While the storm caused extensive damage, residents said it also brought the neighbourhood together.
Bessette said neighbours worked together to clear trees from the road so traffic could get through.
“This is a community. We love each other,” she said.
Truong said neighbours checked on him and offered help.
“Neighbours were asking around if I was OK and if I needed anything,” he said. “They’re all very helpful and try to do as best we can.”
Chris Gillis was at work when he received a call from a neighbour telling him he should get home.
When he arrived, he found his swing sitting in a tree.
“That’s my swing in the tree up there,” Gillis said.
Gillis said several people in the neighbourhood stopped to check on him and offered their assistance.
For residents who experienced the storm firsthand, the destruction was a stark reminder of the importance of taking severe weather warnings seriously.
Bessette said people in her neighbourhood were shaken, particularly some seniors who had lived there for decades.
“People that have lived here their whole lives have said that they’ve never, ever experienced anything like this,” she said.
Hundreds without power
Hundreds of people were without power Friday morning as cleanup continues after the tornado swept across Windsor and McGregor Thursday evening.
At 1:30 p.m. ENWIN’s outage map showed three active outages in the Riverside community affecting 372 customers.
The outage map also showed four active outages in Pillette, impacting 559 customers. ENWIN says this outage is still under investigation and there’s no time shown for the restoration of power to the community.
An outage in Fountainbleu was impacting 27 customers, while one in South Central was impacting 57 customers. Both outages remain under investigation.
Thousands of customers were without power for periods Thursday, mostly in south and west Windsor and neighbouring LaSalle, following the storm.
In a post on X, ENWIN said crews continue restoration efforts following yesterday’s severe weather.
The utility company said most impacted customers are expected to have power restored by 7 p.m. Friday.
“Restoration may take longer in areas with significant or isolated damage,” ENWIN said in the social media post.
Traffic lights flashing or out
Meanwhile, Windsor Police Service says a number of traffic lights are flashing or out.
“Motorists must treat these lights as four-way stops; come to a complete stop, then proceed carefully when you have the right of way and the crosswalk is clear of pedestrians,” police said in a Friday morning post on X.
