Authorities confirm tornado touchdown and damage in Ayr, Ont.

A tornado has left a trail of damage in the southwestern Ontario community of Ayr on Saturday as a major storm system caused flooding across parts of the province.

It was just after 11 a.m. when Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologists issued a tornado warning for several areas, including Cambridge, Roseville, Breslau, Preston, Hespeler, West Guelph, Aberfoyle and Morriston. The warning was dropped roughly half an hour later and the storm system moved out of the region in the early afternoon.

David Sills, executive director of the Northern Tornadoes Project at Western University, confirmed a tornado touched down on the north side of Ayr on Saturday.

The project’s team arrived in the community Saturday afternoon and he said they were assessing the width, length, extent of damage and other data.

To identify whether a tornado has made a touchdown, Sills said researchers tend to look at the path of damage. He said this tornado left a long but narrow path behind it with no damage beyond its boundaries.

“We’ve got trees down in every direction possible,” Sills said.

“This one was on the weak side.”

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

A post on the Township of North Dumfries X account shared a photo from Jake Nagle, which appeared to show a tornado moving through a field.

An unofficial weather summary posted by Environment and Climate Change Canada said the Northern Tornadoes Project preliminarily designated the tornado as an EF-1 rating.

Sue Foxton, mayor of the Township of North Dumfries, said the storm system left behind a trail of downed trees and power lines in the area. She noted the wind was more intense than the rain.

Foxton said she was heading toward Ottawa when she got the call about the storm and turned around to drive back to Ayr.

“[Highway] 401 didn’t have the wind. They had the rain,” she said.

“There was almost zero visibility in a lot of places.”

Waterloo Regional Police Service officers said Greenfield Road between Trussler Road and Northumberland Street was closed due to damage and debris.

The Ayr Home Hardware Building Centre, which is roughly 17 kilometres west of Cambridge, appeared to bear the brunt of the damage as a large portion of the roof was partially torn off, according to police.

Police officers said North Dumfries Fire Department crews were called to respond to the smell of natural gas at the location, and both the hydro and gas were shut off.

CityNews 570 spoke with a Home Hardware staff member who described how they had to move customers and other staff members to safety.

Police officers said they also received reports of a train derailment in the area with several rail cars flipped over.

There were no reports of any hazardous materials and emergency services were not required as the incident was being managed by railway employees.

Approximately 3,000 customers in Ayr were without power due to the storm however almost all of the outages had been repaired by Saturday evening.

Weather-related watches and warnings were in effect until Saturday evening. 

With files from The Canadian Press