“You know those disaster movies you see?
“That’s what I lived through. It was like that. Even scarier when you’re here alone,” said Deenie Matthews after a tornado ripped through her Clifford-area property on March 16.
“It was terrifying, absolutely terrifying.”
Environment Canada has confirmed the first tornado of the season struck farms on both sides of the Minto-Normanby Townline on Wednesday. The Weather Network reported the storm is the earliest in a calendar year a tornado has ever hit Ontario.
Environment Canada reports an EF1 tornado touched down seven kilometres northeast of Clifford, near Drew, at around 3:50pm on March 16.
It carved a path of damage about 3.5 kilometres long and up to 200 metres wide, with winds reaching up to 170km/h.
Three bolted-down grain bins were ripped off of their cement bases and blown up to 200 metres away on a farm on the Minto side of the line.
The barn and other outbuildings on a property owned by Matthews and her husband Ron, on the West Grey (Normanby) side, were severely damaged. A number of mature trees on both sides of the road were snapped off or blown over.
Fortunately, considering the intensity of the storm and the damage it caused, there were no reported injuries to humans or animals.
With her husband away on business, Matthews and her dog were alone at the farm when the tornado struck without warning.
“It was absolutely gorgeous out,” said Matthews of the weather immediately before the storm. “My dog was lying on the front deck and all of a sudden it started raining … then it started hailing, intense hail.”
The hail frightened the dog, which tried to get inside.
“I went to open front door and it was almost ripped from my hand,” said Matthews. “All the pictures on the wall, I have a bench by the door, all the pillows went flying.”
Matthews’ next thought was “maybe this isn’t a good idea. Maybe I shouldn’t open this door.
“I’m trying to get the door shut as the gale-force wind is coming at it,” Matthews continued.
“At this point the dog is running down to our other door …We have a great big heavy, almost like a marble-like, table for the outside and it just got lifted right off the deck, dragged across the deck, thrown onto the driveway and then one of the posts on our veranda got sheared right off and was headed right toward me, right toward the glass door and at the last moment the wind just caught it and flipped it and it landed right in front of the door.
“I got the door shut and locked, ran around through the kitchen to open the door for the dog, let the dog in, and at this time all I could see is like a wall of, it looked like grey so I’m assuming it was rain, I don’t know what else to describe it as, because at this point I’m just in such shock, I’m shaking like a leaf, like, I’m terrified.
“And trees are flying by … every tree has damage, they were ripped … right out of the ground and moved, like roots and everything, just ripped right up and then down again.
“It lasted I think about 10 minutes, then it settled. That’s when I really went into terrified mode, when I saw all the barns were gone, just flattened, gone.”
Matthews’ thoughts then turned to the couple’s four horses, which had been out in a field.
“I was just horrified they would be dead or worse,” she said.
Fortunately, the horses were safe in the barn, where they sought refuge when the storm began.
“The big Percheron put them right into the corner of the barn that survived and they were in there scared out of their minds,” she said two days after the tornado.
“They’re still scared out of their minds … we haven’t even attempted to remove them because they won’t go out, they’re just horrified.”
While their main barn, which was built in two stages, is still standing, Matthews said the two parts are separating and the beams in the main barn are displaced.
“It’s going to be a total write-off I’m assuming,” she said. “We’ve lost the main barn, we’ve lost our feeder barn, we lost our cart barn and we lost our shed … it’s still standing, it’s the oldest and it’s the worst one and it’s still standing, but it’s not standing pretty.”
As bad as it was, Matthews was told the damage could have been far rose.
“I’m so thankful our house survived,” she said, noting Environment Canada investigators told her they believe the tornado “split” before it hit the house, “and they think the bulk of the tornado went and took the barns out.”
Matthews considers herself lucky to have survived the ordeal.
“I’m so thankful that I’m here … honest to God … I could not have shut that door by myself, I’m sorry, there was another hand helping me. I’m a firm believer in that,” she said.
While the damaged buildings can be rebuilt, Matthews said “It won’t ever be the same … It’ll be very sad if we have to tear down this barn … There’s lot of history in this barn …
“We just don’t want to see it gone, but if it’s not safe we’re going to have to do it.”
There were no calls for service to Minto Fire regarding the March 16 storm, but a press release from the town states the department monitored the situation through the night on March 16, and public works staff and the chief building official were on scene at affected properties the next day.
