It has been one week since a violent summer storm cut a swath through the hamlet of Rockburn and parts of Franklin around 6 p.m. on August 10.
Residents are still cleaning up and assessing the damage after strong winds, heavy rain, and driving hail cracked and uprooted hundreds of trees, devastated orchards, and left many without electricity for days.
“We were in the house, and we were looking out and it was like a white wall. Like lots of fog or a snowstorm. You could not see more than 25-feet in front of you,” said Hinchinbrooke resident Sylvie Crevier. She said the worst of the storm, including large hail, lasted for around 10 to 12 minutes. The damage to the trees on their property was extreme, with at least 15 large trees uprooted, cracked or split.
Environment Canada meteorologist Jean-Philippe Bégin confirmed the storm produced unidirectional wind gusts between 90 and 100 kilometres per hour. After reviewing the radar and storm data, he further qualified the storm as a downburst, characterized by powerful winds generated by a rush of cold air that dropped down during the storm. When this heavy air hit the ground, it blasted outwards resulting in strong straight-line winds.
Bégin said that based on the available data, it was possible to rule out a microburst as well as a tornado. “It affected a pretty wide area, whereas when you have a microburst, it is very local and even more narrow that what we had here,” he explained.
“We don’t have any evidence of rotation,” Bégin added, noting that Environment Canada often collaborates with the Northern Tornadoes Project out of Western University to investigate possible tornados. “Unless we receive more evidence, there has been no communication about this specific storm,” he confirmed.
Crevier believes her home, located near the intersection of the Rockburn Sideroad and Ridge Road, was at the heart of the storm. Estimates to remove the uprooted and downed trees were in the thousands of dollars, and because none of the trees damaged any structures, she is unable to rely on insurance to cover the expenses.
Along with damage to large trees, an article in La Terre de Chez Nous noted that upwards of 20 apple producers reported damage to their trees and fruit in Rockburn and Franklin. Maple bushes in the area were perhaps even more severely damaged by the storm. Many trees were cracked, leaving sections completely devastated. In some cases, the downed branches and trees in sugar bushes damaged production equipment and pipelines as well.
Jeff Blair of Blair Orchards confirmed 100 per cent of his apple crop was affected by hail. “Usually it is kind of isolated, so we have at least one or two blocks, but it got everything this time,” he said of the storm.
“Some of the apples are split. There was such a force of wind that anything on the northwest side of the tree split. Then if you go to the southeast side, they were not hit so bad,” he explained, noting the u-pick season at the orchard will go ahead. Customers have understood in the past that when it comes to hail and storm damage, the impact on the apples is out of their control.
Blair said the United States issued a weather warning for rotation heading towards Churubusco, New York, around 15 minutes before the storm hit. A storm warning was also issued by Environment Canada advising people to take cover. “It came so fast,” he said.
“We lost three trees in our dooryard. They missed our house, but I never even heard them come down. There was such a roar of the wind. It was just like a jet,” he recalled. “It wasn’t until after the storm, we went out. Three big maples, and they’re gone. It’s crazy!” he exclaimed.