Death toll in Canada storm rises to 10
As the death toll related to the powerful storm that swept Ontario and Quebec on Saturday reached 10 on Monday, some of the hardest-hit communities were still working to take stock of the damage.
“It’s probably easier for us to count the homes that have no damage than the ones that have damage,” said Clarence-Rockland fire chief Pierre Voisine, while surveying wreckage in nearby Hammond, Ont., on Monday.
The storm hit the region hard enough to reduce some homes to twisted piles of timber. Downed power lines and broken telephone polls are still blocking streets strewn with debris from uprooted trees and rubble from wrecked buildings.
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The scale of the destruction prompted the community, along with the town of Uxbridge, Ont., east of Toronto, to declare a state of emergency.
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Hammond resident Mijanou Guibord felt the devastation first-hand when the house she bought brand-new in December was destroyed by the high winds.
“I was sitting in the living room with my dog — he is a PTSD dog I got to help me after my house before was destroyed by fire — and I saw a red tin roof flying. I grabbed him by the neck and we ran downstairs,” said Guibord on Monday, as she looked on at what remained of her home.
“All the windows were smashed in. I yelled out ‘help me!’ from the basement. My neighbour kicked the doors in. The whole house was demolished. My car is still in there.”
Dominic Couture, the neighbour who came to Guibord’s rescue, said that while his house was only somewhat hit with a large dent on the side, the pickup truck he finished paying off four months ago was crushed.
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“My truck was parked in the front of the house and I think it flew into the back,” he said. “It’s a Dodge Ram and it is demolished.”
Beef farmer John Lowe spent the day clearing debris on his family farm in Bearbrook, Ont., after the storm completely destroyed his barn.
Lowe, who was working on the farm when the storm hit, sheltered in an excavator which he later used to dig out trapped cattle from the collapsed building.
“The weather warnings were going off, then the wind really picked up and started blowing dirt around,” Lowe said.