Damage reported across region after heavy storm rolls through southwestern Ontario

There are reports of tree damage and large hail following warnings of strong storms in Windsor-Essex, Sarnia-Lambton and Chatham-Kent, Ont. Thursday evening.

Earlier on Thursday, tornado warnings were in effect for Sarnia and some areas east of there but the warnings ended by around 5 p.m.

Maidstone resident Shaun Fuerth said he felt a cold front come through before the storm unleashed hail measuring as large as five centimetres around 4:20 p.m.

"We've had hail before, but nothing ever bigger than a golf ball," Fuerth said. "Never seen hail that big out here, ever." 

Fuerth said his family's vehicles had a dozen or more golf ball-sized dents, and one has a cracked windshield.

His home has a broken window and the siding has multiple holes.

"There's quite a bit of damage in our area out here in the county," Fuerth said. He said the hail continued for about 15 minutes before it let up.

Since the hail came down, Fuerth said the rain has lightened up and by 6 p.m. skies were sunny and blue in Maidstone. 

Tree damage was reported in Sarnia. The fire department said on Twitter that one of its trucks was blocked by a downed tree and a live wire had fallen on it.

Jason McArthur said he was out in Sarnia and decided to take shelter in a local car wash when he saw the weather begin to shift. He believes what rolled through the area was a tornado. 

Describing the scene as "spooky," he said rain let up immediately before he saw the rotating clouds. 

"It was so strange where the tint of everything changed, greenish-yellow is how I knew it would be a bad storm," McArthur said, noting he also heard a distant train-like sound. "I've never seen that in a storm before ever, going from pitch black to almost green, that was scary.

"It was a little shrouded, but you could see it was very, very likely a tornado." 

McArthur said he received an emergency alert just after 4 p.m., and what he believes was a tornado rolled through about five minutes later, around 4:08 p.m. 

Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley described the storm as "brutal" and said there are areas of Sarnia without power. But around 6:45 p.m. Thursday he said the sun was shining, the storm having blown through quickly.

As of 7 p.m., Enwin Utilities in Windsor is reporting outages involving a few hundred customers.