A powerful wind storm that torn it’s way across Ontario and Quebec in May 2022, including here in the nation’s capital has been found to be stronger and deadlier than previously reported.
New data from the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) at Western University shows the maximum wind speeds of the storm called 2022 Ontario-Quebec derecho recorded at the Region of Waterloo International Airport at the time were 147 km/h. This is higher than the previously recorded high of 131 km/h.
The new data came from raw files from weather stations across the path of the storm, which went across the Windsor-Quebec corridor.
A graph of wind gusts at the Region of Waterloo Airport during the derecho. X axis: time in five second intervals. y axis: speed in km/hr (Credit: Northern Tornadoes Project)
Dr. David Sills, the executive director of NTP said the speed recorded at the Waterloo airport was the highest speed record for the entire storm and is in the top five recorded wind gusts in Ontario’ history.
“It’s pretty rare to get gusts that high, almost 150km/h, especially from a thunderstorm in Ontario,” he said. “It is a fairly rare phenomenon to be able to get that high of a wind speed that is measured at a weather station because they are so widely dispersed.”
In Ottawa, the storm caused significant damage to Stittsville, buildings around Hunt Club Road, Merivale Road and Navan. Residents described utter devastation of roofs in some areas, trapped cars under power lines and trees uprooted.
Hydro Ottawa called the storm the “most devastating” in the city’s history, including the Ice Storm of 1998 and the 2018 tornadoes.
“The restoration effort was so massive an undertaking that it was the equivalent of doing four years worth of construction work and emergency repairs in 14 days,” Hydro Ottawa said.
The storm left thousands in the dark and in some cases for more than a week.
The new data from NTP also shows there were four more deaths in Ontario than previously reported. The organization worked with the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario and investigated local media to collect the data, finding there were 12 original deaths, 11 in Ontario and one in Quebec. The new data brings the total number to 16.
CatIQ, an insurance industry aggregate and partner of the NTP, found the final assessment of insured damage from the derecho to be $1.257 billion, making it the most costly wind-related natural disaster ever recorded in Canadian history.
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