Cleanup efforts are underway in several cities in southwestern Ontario after a severe weather event hit the region on Tuesday, and it’s believed at least one tornado occurred.
Environment Canada issued multiple red alert warnings for tornadoes affecting areas such as Brantford and the County of Brant, Simcoe-Delhi-Norfolk, and Woodstock-Tillsonburg-Oxford County. The city of London was also included in these warnings.
“We did have tornado warnings that spanned a large region including the London area and that is where we had very significant damage reports come in,” said Monica Vaswani, warning preparedness meteorologist at Environment Canada.
![Click to play video: 'At least 10 injured after tornado rips through northern Oklahoma']()
3:12 At least 10 injured after tornado rips through northern Oklahoma
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The Northern Tornadoes Project, based in London and collaborating with Environment Canada to verify tornado occurrences, stated they are looking into reports of tornadoes and wind damage in both the London area and Huntsville, Ont.
“It looks like there was probably at least one tornado, we’re going to investigate that today,” said Dr. Dave Sills, director of the Northern Tornadoes Project.
“The rest of the damage, we’re not quite sure yet. You know, because it’s this mix of high winds and potential tornadoes, we are dealing with all kinds of reports and trying to put it all together.”
As they continue their investigation into possible tornadoes, communities like London experienced significant destruction to trees and power lines.
The city reported around 300 service requests due to tree damage; however, it mentioned this “does not reflect” how many trees may have fallen-an estimate expected to be higher according to Kat Hodgins, the city’s forestry operations manager.
A tree lies on a house in London, Ont. on May 19 after a severe storm.
Courtesy: Mark Canaran
As of 12 p. m., London Hydro reported about 1,800 customers were still without power. At its peak during this event, roughly 6,000 customers experienced outages.
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“The hardest-hit area is East London,” a spokesperson for the utility company noted in a statement. “There were multiple broken poles and lots of broken trees.”
![Click to play video: 'Severe storms leave widespread damage across London, Ont.']()
1:30 Severe storms leave widespread damage across London, Ont.
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3:12 At least 10 injured after tornado rips through northern Oklahoma
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The Northern Tornadoes Project, based in London and collaborating with Environment Canada to verify tornado occurrences, stated they are looking into reports of tornadoes and wind damage in both the London area and Huntsville, Ont.
“It looks like there was probably at least one tornado, we’re going to investigate that today,” said Dr. Dave Sills, director of the Northern Tornadoes Project.
“The rest of the damage, we’re not quite sure yet. You know, because it’s this mix of high winds and potential tornadoes, we are dealing with all kinds of reports and trying to put it all together.”
As they continue their investigation into possible tornadoes, communities like London experienced significant destruction to trees and power lines.
The city reported around 300 service requests due to tree damage; however, it mentioned this “does not reflect” how many trees may have fallen-an estimate expected to be higher according to Kat Hodgins, the city’s forestry operations manager.
A tree lies on a house in London, Ont. on May 19 after a severe storm.
Courtesy: Mark Canaran
As of 12 p. m., London Hydro reported about 1,800 customers were still without power. At its peak during this event, roughly 6,000 customers experienced outages.
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“The hardest-hit area is East London,” a spokesperson for the utility company noted in a statement. “There were multiple broken poles and lots of broken trees.”
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Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story. The city mentioned that work is ongoing to assess and respond to tree damage along roads and public spaces. Hamilton also faced outages during this weather event with over 4,200 customers affected in its Waterdown neighborhood at its peak according to Alectra Utilities. Environment Canada confirmed only severe thunderstorm warnings were issued for Hamilton-not for any tornadic activity.
1:30 Severe storms leave widespread damage across London, Ont.
Several tornadoes already in 2026
More on Canada More videos Chief meteorologist Anthony Farnell indicated that some tornadoes have already occurred this year with Alberta reporting the highest numbers. Story continues below “A lot of them have been very weak and that’s something you typically see earlier in the season,” Farnell explained. “A lot of EF0s and EF1s perhaps; but for stronger storms you need more dynamics-more heat and humidity-and that usually doesn’t happen until later in the season here in Canada.” The first recorded tornado this year took place in Granton, Ont., on May 9 as an EF0 with estimated maximum wind speeds reaching 110 km/h. An additional seven EF0s were noted between May 17 and May 18 across parts of southern Alberta between Calgary and Edmonton including Didsbury, Garfield , and Olds. Wind speeds from those events weren’t documented. “Tornado season typically starts around May,” Farnell remarked,” ramping up through June before peaking during July into early August.” However he pointed out conditions can vary which makes being prepared essential as we head further into storm season.” A number of tree branches lie across sidewalks following a severe storm passage through London , Ont., on May 20.Courtesy : Mark Canaran
“You need various fronts along with substantial changes within air mass,” he added. “So warm spells followed by cool ones often act as cold fronts leading directly toward supercells producing twisters similar what transpired yesterday throughout Ontario.”
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As Sills emphasized while investigations proceed they encounter numerous reports aiding their effort “to piece things together”. But he also warned about receiving AI-generated imagery which could complicate matters further.
Hence his call urging individuals caution prior sharing images.
“If your Spidey senses tingle seeing an image don’t take it at face value-it might just be fake,” Sills advised.
“Please don’t share if suspecting falsification right? While nice intending sharing moments among friends; doing so worsens our investigative challenges.”
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