The sky changed to a green hue, the wind picked up rapidly, and then the chaos began.
Residents throughout Windsor and Essex County were busy cleaning up on Thursday night after a strong storm swept through the area, with Environment Canada confirming a tornado was detected by radar.
In Riverside, trees were uprooted, power lines fell down, and debris littered the streets. Some residents faced major damage to their homes.
Vanessa Bessette observed the storm as it approached her neighborhood and said everything changed almost immediately.
“The sky went green, everything went silent,” Bessette told CBC Windsor. “And then all of a sudden … the winds picked up so quick you couldn’t see anything.”
This house on Ford Boulevard is covered in debris after a tornado ripped through Windsor’s Riverside neighborhood. (Dalson Chen/CBC)
She described the rain and wind as looking like “one big sheet of glass. like fog in front of you” that made visibility impossible.
Bessette mentioned that her neighborhood received several tornado alerts before the storm hit, including notifications on residents’ phones and TV broadcasts.
She also heard tornado sirens from Detroit across the border.
“Take them serious,” Bessette advised regarding the alerts. “Take them serious, especially when you live this close to the water.”
The storm left widespread destruction in its path.
Essex-Windsor EMS reported treating a few minor injuries on Thursday due to severe weather conditions. Meanwhile, Windsor Police Service noted one minor injury caused by broken glass.
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Thursday’s thunderstorm downed trees with some landing in people’s homes and driveways. (Submitted by Susan Cassady)
A large pine tree was uprooted and got tangled with an electrical wire, leaving parts of the street without power. Bessette said a swing set ended up stuck in a tree while a trampoline from another street was thrown into branches.
Bessette stated that a shed was lifted off its foundation and moved across the street while part of a streetlight also came crashing down.
However, one of the scariest incidents occurred next door to Bessette.
A large tree crashed through her neighbor’s living room, just missing the woman inside.
“She had got the alert and had just gotten up and went to go into her basement and just missed it,” Bessette explained. “As she was going into the basement she could hear glass breaking around her and didn’t realize the tree came through her living room.”
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Vanessa Bessette says residents have complained about a huge tree close to their homes before the storm. ()
The woman wasn’t hurt according to Bessette but was taken by family to another place for safety.
Bessette shared that residents had raised concerns about that tree prior to this event and had reached out to city officials multiple times over recent years.
“We’ve probably put in at least five to six complaints and they just keep saying ‘Oh, it’s healthy,’ and they come in; they trim it,” she noted.
Despite this action, large branches continued falling during storms.
Bessette now hopes for proper assessments of remaining trees.
“They need to come assess them; those that are hollow like this one need removal,” she said.
My neighbour sends me a message saying that it doesn’t look good and there’s a tree that fell on your house.- Danny Truong, Windsor resident The damage extended beyond just Bessette’s street. Danny Truong returned home only to find out that a massive tree had fallen onto his house. “My neighbour sends me a message saying that it doesn’t look good; there’s a tree that fell on your house,” Truong told .
Upon arrival at his home he discovered an enormous tree had fallen where he parked his car crashing through his living room.
“There’s a huge hole in my living room right now,” he expressed.
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An old willow tree in Reaume Park lies destroyed by tornado winds from Thursday afternoon. Its commemorative plaque states it was planted in 1953. (Dalson Chen/CBC)
Truong has lived in this neighborhood for nearly nine years but said he’d never witnessed anything like it before.
“This is definitely totally different; totally crazy,” he remarked.
“It definitely doesn’t look safe,” Truong added. “My bedroom is literally just right there. So … I don’t know if I would risk it.”
My neighbour sends me a message saying that it doesn’t look good and there’s a tree that fell on your house.- Danny Truong, Windsor resident The damage extended beyond just Bessette’s street. Danny Truong returned home only to find out that a massive tree had fallen onto his house. “My neighbour sends me a message saying that it doesn’t look good; there’s a tree that fell on your house,” Truong told .
Upon arrival at his home he discovered an enormous tree had fallen where he parked his car crashing through his living room.
“There’s a huge hole in my living room right now,” he expressed.
Truong has lived in this neighborhood for nearly nine years but said he’d never witnessed anything like it before.
“This is definitely totally different; totally crazy,” he remarked.
The Storm United The Community
He planned on contacting his insurance provider while arranging for damage assessments as well as considering finding alternate accommodation given there’s no power at home.“It definitely doesn’t look safe,” Truong added. “My bedroom is literally just right there. So … I don’t know if I would risk it.”
