Hero employee at Home Hardware in Ayr describes impact of Saturday’s tornado

“Basically, the entire store just came falling down around us.”

That’s the description of the Saturday morning tornado in Ayr on the local Home Hardware store, from a hero employee who made sure everyone inside was safe.

Alexander Breen, 20, told 570 NewsRadio “we all decided to run to the back (of the store), and then the back starts collapsing, so I tell everyone then to get up to the front quick, because that’s the only part that’s really left of the store.”

“Thankfully everyone made it out OK. That’s the main point: to make sure everyone got out,” he said.

Breen noted it was lucky no flammable or explosive material caught fire.

The tornado tore large portions of the roof off the store, tossed around watercrafts on large trailers at the business next door, and also left damage at the seed mill business across the street.

Photos from the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) at the University of Western Ontario show empty train cars pushed off their rails, and a path of trees blown down, along with other damage.

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Cowan Park was closed down from the impact of the storm and the debris needing to be cleaned up.

NTP said it was an EF1 tornado, and their teams have been on site measuring the path and intensity of the damage, with preliminary evidence showing a narrow path over 5 kilometres in length.

According to the organization the tornado developed near Wolverton, Ont. and tracked east to Ayr, where structural and tree damage was reported. A drone survey completed by NTP determined wind speeds reached 165 km/h.

The impact of the storm was seen and felt by people all throughout the community.

One resident, Phil, said he “saw the darkness, got the alert, and all we heard was ‘take cover’. How many times have you heard people say ‘it came out of nowhere?’ We got the alert and it hit. We got the warning, and it was on us.”

David said he could see debris spiralling around in the air for three or four minutes, and he’s glad the tornado did not touch down around any houses.

Eddie and Connie came to check on their adult daughter and her husband, and Eddie said as he was looking at the damage to the Home Hardware, “it’s a nice tight community, we’ll get through it.”

Connie added, “It’s a horrible sight but everybody’s fine and we’ll clean it up.”

Waterloo Regional Police, and North Dumfries Mayor, Sue Foxton, confirmed there were no injuries from the tornado.

A statement from the township said as of Monday, August 19, as work continues to restore full services to the high impact zone:

• The North Dumfries Community Complex will RE-OPEN on Monday at 7:00 a.m. and will operate normal business hours;
• The Dog Park, Community Garden and Beach Volleyball Courts at the North Dumfries Community Complex will remain CLOSED. A reassessment of these affected areas and a potential timeline for re-opening will be messaged out on Tuesday;
• Cowan Park will remain CLOSED on an indefinite basis;
• Crews from the Public Works Department will be re-deployed to Greenfield Road West on Monday, August 19. Crews will continue their work to cut up and remove downed trees and limbs that remain piled on the roadside. Greenfield Road West will be CLOSED to thru traffic while Public Works personnel are deployed to ensure the safety of our crews;
• On Wednesday, staff will reassess what further work will be required on Greenfield Road West as it relates to the removal of downed trees, tree limbs and debris. Further messaging in this respect will be communicated on Wednesday.