A Saturday storm left a trail of destruction north of London, Ont. CTV London’s Brent Lale has more on the situation.
Jessie O’Neil was heading to her hay barn when a storm suddenly hit north of London, Ont.
“It was terrifying, it came out of nowhere,” O’Neil shared from her farm on Sixteen Mile Road.
“I went to close the door and next thing you know, I see the pallet swirling through the air off into the field and then I watch the roof of our hay shed fall in front of me.”
The winds began to pick up around 4 p. m. on Saturday. People in the storm’s path near Wonderland Road reported a noise similar to a train, followed by an unsettling silence.
Western University’s Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) assessed the damage.
“It affected several areas south and east of Lucan, including this barn here that was unfortunately destroyed by the event,” explained Aaron Jaffe, an engineering researcher with NTP.
“The roof went, landed over there on the other side of the property, and the walls and other pieces of the barn collapsed onto another barn right beside it. We’ll be examining all that damage to figure out exactly what happened-whether it was a small tornado or maybe a downburst or microburst.”
Damage north of London after rotation A barn was destroyed on Sixteen Mile Road near Wonderland Rd. north of London, Ont., on Saturday, May 9, 2026. (Source: Brent Lale/CTV London)
After that, the storm continued east just south of Granton, where it took down trees and knocked off a solar panel that had a massive concrete base.
“It’s one of the largest solar panels you can get,” said neighbor Jeff Bak.
“It’s a pile of metal attached to a concrete base, and it literally lifted the base up off the ground and tipped it over. They’ve got to weigh tonnes as it’s all concrete. It’s got some rebar inside to hold it in place, but it’s unbelievable what it did.”
Bak feels lucky his property didn’t suffer any damage. However, he found pieces of solar panel scattered in his yard about 100 meters from where they used to be.
Damage north of London after rotation A solar panel with a heavy base was toppled on Elginfield Rd. north of London, Ont., on Saturday, May 9, 2026. (Source: Brent Lale/CTV London)
“It got as dark as if it were 9 at night before really heavy rain started coming down,” Bak recalled.
He also witnessed a pickup truck flip into a ditch just a few hundred meters away.
“There was a large F-250 towing a 28-foot trailer,” Bak noted.
“They were completely flipped over in the ditch-both truck and trailer. I’m guessing some kind of wind or downdraft picked them up and threw them into there.”
As temperatures rise, we’re entering prime time for significant weather events.
“Early to mid-May is usually when we start seeing our first big damaging storms like this in Ontario,” Jaffe mentioned.
“Canada hasn’t had its first confirmed tornado yet this year but I expect that will change soon.”
Damage north of London after rotation A barn was destroyed on Sixteen Mile Road near Wonderland Rd. north of London, Ont., on Saturday May 9th ,2026.( Source : Brent Lale / CTV london )
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Damage north of London after rotation A solar panel with a heavy base was toppled on Elginfield Rd. north of London, Ont., on Saturday, May 9, 2026. (Source: Brent Lale/CTV London)
“It got as dark as if it were 9 at night before really heavy rain started coming down,” Bak recalled.
He also witnessed a pickup truck flip into a ditch just a few hundred meters away.
“There was a large F-250 towing a 28-foot trailer,” Bak noted.
“They were completely flipped over in the ditch-both truck and trailer. I’m guessing some kind of wind or downdraft picked them up and threw them into there.”
As temperatures rise, we’re entering prime time for significant weather events.
“Early to mid-May is usually when we start seeing our first big damaging storms like this in Ontario,” Jaffe mentioned.
“Canada hasn’t had its first confirmed tornado yet this year but I expect that will change soon.”
Damage north of London after rotation A barn was destroyed on Sixteen Mile Road near Wonderland Rd. north of London, Ont., on Saturday May 9th ,2026.( Source : Brent Lale / CTV london )Source link
