Storm downs trees, knocks out power in Mattawa, Ont., area
Two provincial parks evacuated Saturday night, community arena open as a shelter
On Saturday night, Bill Steer was relaxing in his cabin at the Canadian Ecology Centre, near Mattawa, Ont. when he felt something was off. The winds picked up and he started to hear branches falling. He said he grabbed his phone and got down.
"Then a tree came through the roof. There was a bit of a lull, and then it started again," he said.
"Trees were coming smack in the cabin, bouncing off and in 30 seconds it was over."
A major storm hit the area, causing road closures, knocked down trees and hydro outages.
"I think we've all been in storms. I've been in a small hurricane in Florida once and I've been outside all my life," he said. "Not like this. When I opened my eyes, there is total devastation here in the park. It's been flattened. It will never be the same again in my lifetime."
The Canadian Ecology Centre is located within Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park, which had to be evacuated. The nearby Kiosk Campground in Algonquin Provincial Park was also evacuated. OPP have said several injuries have been reported, but the extent of them is not known at this time. No fatalities have been reported.
Steer said there were guests staying at the ecology centre.
"We're just in a bit of a lull before we start our busy season," he said.
"Next weekend, there would have been hundreds of more people in the park and the Canadian Ecology Centre."
Kali and Colin Murphy, from Eganville, Ont., were camping at the park with their two young children, and Kali's parents, when the storm hit.
'I thought that was the end'
"Everything just got so loud and a tree fell on our trailer," Kali told CBC Ottawa.
She said she covered her two-year-old daughter Evie with her body, at which point Colin, who was at the other end of the 24-foot trailer, was hit by a tree.
"That's when it fractured my femur in four places," he said.
The couple's seven-year-old daughter, Addy, was in a neighbouring trailer with Kali's parents that wasn't hit by any fallen trees.
Although that trailer was only 15 metres away, Kali said it was difficult to make the short trek there in the middle of the storm, so she could check on her other daughter and parents.
"There were so many downed trees and I was climbing over things trying to just find out where their trailer was and get to them," she said.
When she learned everyone was safe, they returned to Colin and built a small tarp to keep him out of the rain while they waited for paramedics to arrive, which took around five hours.
"They said they walked six kilometres to get to our site," Kali said.
Colin was transported to the North Bay Regional Health Centre where he had one surgery to help repair his broken leg, and was waiting for another operation when he spoke with CBC News.
I just kept saying, you know, 'We're going to die. We're going to die.'- Shana Calixte-Pitawanakwat
Not far from them, another couple – Shana Calixte-Pitawanakwat and David Pitawanakwat – were camping in their trailer at Champlain park.
"I just thought that was the end," Calixte-Pitawanakwat said. "I just kept saying, you know, 'We're going to die. We're going to die.'"
Pitawanakwat said they were fortunate that their trailer was not hit by any trees. When the storm calmed down, he started looking for other campers.
"We knew that there was a couple that had kids and we went over and they came over and checked on us and we said 'We're OK,'" he said.
Calixte-Pitawanakwat said they were transported to the arena in Mattawa the next morning.
She praised the first responders, and the community in Mattawa, where volunteers made them breakfast and dropped off clean clothing.
"The way that community rallied around was amazing," she said. "I mean, we are forever grateful to the first responders and as well as the community."
Kiosk campground evacuated
Nelson Montreuil, the owner of Algonquin North Wilderness Outfitters, located north of the Kiosk campground in Algonquin Park, said that area got heavy rain, but didn't get the devastating winds that hit Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park.
Montreuil said all of the campers in that section of the park were safely evacuated.
Part of Highway 630, leading to the park from Highway 17, was washed out due to the heavy rainfall.
"I'm hoping that the park opens up or soon enough because we're going into the long weekend and, you know, we have quite a few employees that work here," he said.
Work underway to clean up
Several municipalities have declared states of emergency, including the Township of Calvin and the Municipality of Bonfield.
Calvin Mayor Richard Gould said he lost all phone and cellular service on Saturday night, on top of power outages and the road leading to his house getting "completely washed out."
He praised the township staff, including the fire chief, for taking quick action to help evacuate campers from Champlain provincial park and to try to minimize the impact of heavy rains on roadways, so emergency vehicles could get through.
"What's next is bringing in loads and loads of gravel and fixing culverts and trying to get the roads back into a useable condition," Gould said.
In Mattawa, the local arena is open for evacuees, with volunteers from the local legion branch and the Red Cross providing assistance to those in need.
Mattawa Mayor Raymond Belanger said his town didn't have any damage, but immediately stepped in to assist when calls started coming in from nearby communities.
"We housed probably in the area of 250 evacuees," he said. "It was a total community rally to support our neighbours in need."
Belanger said as of Monday morning, crews were still trying to get some campers out of Kiosk Campground in Algonquin Provincial Park, as Highway 630 leading into it was washed out.
"There's still some people in the park and EMO (Emergency Management Ontario) is working with Ontario Parks, making sure that no one is left behind," he said.
Belanger said as of Monday morning, there were about six people left at the Mattawa arena.
"[People] managed to get their relatives or friends to come and get them and they're back home," he said.
"They are not able to get back their belongings in the park because we were told that it's going to be at least two to five days before we can get vehicles and trailers."
He said once the remaining people are able to leave the area, the arena will be closed as a shelter.
Environment Canada looking for photos, information
Steven Flisfeder, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said an investigation is underway to determine exactly what happened.
"We have seen videos and images of the damage in and around the area," he said.
"For the time being, we don't have any firm confirmation whether it was a downburst or a tornado."
Flisfeder said information from the public is helpful when investigating a situation like this.
"Getting information about time, location, type of damage - those are all things will lead us in the direction on how to investigate further," he said.
Flisfeder said Environment Canada works with the Northern Tornadoes Project, a research group based at the University of Western Ontario. He said people can post their photos on social media or email them to Environment Canada.
Connell Miller, the acting director of the Northern Tornadoes Project, said a team arrived in Mattawa on Monday, but it could take several days to determine if the storm caused a tornado or downburst.
"If this was an event in the prairies that happened at 5 or 6 p.m. and you had a million people taking a photo of a tornado, it's much easier than what we have in this situation, where you have a heavily forested area, a storm that occurred at around midnight, and people woke up and found all of this damage," he said.
Highway 17 was closed between Bonfield and Mattawa due to hazardous road conditions but has since reopened. Highway 630 south of Highway 17 remains closed due to flooding.
Hydro One is reporting several outages in the area, with restoration times estimated late Monday night.
On social media, Ontario's Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Response Jill Dunlop posted the province has sent crews to the area to help.
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With files from CBC Ottawa