'I heard it, and it shook the house': Another tornado confirmed in the region

A second tornado has been confirmed following storms that blasted the region on Aug. 24.

According to the Northern Tornadoes Project out of Western University, the investigation concluded that an EF1 tornado with winds upwards of 145 km/h caused damage in Tecumseh and Lakeshore.

Friends and family were helping Tecumseh resident Barbara Saxson clear her property of debris on Monday. Saxson said she wasn’t surprised when the tornado was confirmed.

“I heard it, and it shook the house,” Saxson said. “So I ran out and I said, what's going on? And everyone looked at me like I was a little crazy. And then they saw it. So yeah, it was immense.”

Others like Lyn Morkin on Grace Road were still surveying the damage on Monday morning after tree limbs and branches fell on Morkin’s vehicle and home.

Fallen trees and debris taken down by a tornado that touched down in Windsor-Essex on Aug. 24. Pictured in Tecumseh, Ont. on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)

Fallen trees and debris taken down by a tornado that touched down in Windsor-Essex on Aug. 24. Pictured in Tecumseh, Ont. on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)

“First we heard a big branch land on the back of our house,” Morkin explained. “And then we heard a horrible sound but as this was going on, we couldn't even hear that our cars, my husband's truck and my car both had branches land, we didn't even hear the glass break. We didn't hear anything because the wind was so loud it blocked out everything else.”

“It was horribly scary and we're just thankful that everybody's okay. Hope to never live through another one.”

A ground/drone survey found damage along a narrow path, including collapsed barns, snapped power poles, damaged grain bins, trees and branches down, and roof shingles removed on numerous homes.

Map showing the locations of ground photos of damage along the track of the tornado. (Source: Northern Tornadoes Project)

Areez Habib with the Northern Tornadoes Project told CTV News it was a fast moving tornado with a long track, noting it’s not uncommon to see at this time of year.

“With these fast moving storms, we can get embedded QLCS tornadoes within the line so it's not uncommon to see this.”

Habib said, “We're below average right now for tornado count compared to previous years, but we also do satellite and aerial surveys, so we might discover more during those.”

A ground and drone survey team examined the Tecumseh, Belle River and Tilbury areas on Monday where damage was reported following the storm on Thursday.

Fallen trees and debris taken down by a tornado that touched down in Windsor-Essex on Aug. 24. Pictured in Tecumseh, Ont. on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)

Fallen trees and debris taken down by a tornado that touched down in Windsor-Essex on Aug. 24. Pictured in Tecumseh, Ont. on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)

“It takes a lot of time to pick out what damage was just from the straight line winds from the storm and what was from a tornado. The enhanced damage here seems like it was from a tornado, which is why we rated it that way. It was a long narrow path of damage as opposed to scattered tree branches around the area.”

Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara encouraged any impacted residents to bring storm debris to the curb if possible, suggesting municipal crews will continue cleanup efforts throughout the week.

“Every municipality I think in the last two to three weeks especially with high humidity high temperatures has created the right atmosphere for tremendous storms,” McNamara said. “We're not quite done yet but I hope that we certainly don't have the violent storms that we just experienced.”

“Really do an assessment on your property and start looking at some of the trees as well, there could be still branches that are hung up in the trees or there could be branches that are cracked, and so forth because of the damage itself and so be careful.”

-- Wiith files from CTV London's Kristylee Varley 

Drone view of collapsed barn with debris tossed into the field, Lakeshore Road 103. (Source: Northern Tornadoes Project)