Ayr looks back one year after EF2 tornado
Posted Aug 15, 2025 04:30:00 AM.
Last Updated Aug 17, 2025 05:54:31 AM.
In Ayr’s Cowan Park today, kids are out playing soccer, couples are out for a walk, and the sun is shining.
It was a much different scene compared to the morning of August 17, 2024. This Sunday is the one-year anniversary of the EF2 tornado in the North Dumfries community.
Around 10:40 a.m. that day, the twister began to develop near Wolverton and headed eastward to Ayr, travelling a total of 7 kilometres.
Carla and Doug live close to the Nith River, where it all started.
“I was afraid,” said Carla. “We are in a new build so we weren’t too worried about the house,” added Doug.
“But we worried about people who we know who were outside filming it.”
The 190 km/hr winds ripped trees from the ground along Greenfield Road, Cowan Park was destroyed, and the local Home Hardware was heavily damaged with the roof collapsing.
Ayr toronado
The Home Hardware has yet to reopen, even a year later.
In an email to 570 NewsRadio, a spokesperson with Home Hardware said that at this time, the estimated timeline to reopen the store is around mid to late August.
Stephanie and her family live in Ayr and she said she remembered getting the tornado alert on her phone.
“I just remember the sky just looking super ominous and going to the basement,” said Stephanie. “We were ok where we were but it came up really fast.”
Walking through a fully restored Cowan Park, Ayr resident John said he remembers how quiet everything was that day before the destruction began.
“I looked up in the sky and it was just dark clouds, very quiet where we were, the first we knew about it was when the power went out … we all looked around and saw the damage, it was very extensive.”
Amazingly, no one was hurt during the storm, but the clean up and removal of 300 downed trees took a significant amount of community effort.
In September, the Township of North Dumfries Council pledged $8,500 to plant 17 trees in place of the ones that were ripped from the ground by the tornado. An additional 18 trees were donated.
In April, Cowan Park finally reopened, nearly eight months after the twister.
Total costs for the restoration of the park totalled $331,438.96, but a majority of that was covered by insurance.
The largest cost was the replacement of the soccer net at almost $80,000, and repairs to the field lighting at almost $62,000.
All in all, the past 365 days have seen the community rally together to repair and restore the damaged town.
Just days after the tornado, North Dumfries Mayor Sue Foxton was moved by the town’s passion to help each other.
“God bless communities, eh? That we have that connection, and that compassion the people in the town showed up, and everybody wanted to help.”
