A Tornado blew through here last night and left devastation in its wake. OK, so that might be a little extreme, but I’ve never been remotely close to a Tornado before, and although I didn’t quite see the funnel, this was still pretty incredible, if not quite tragic, given some of the damage to homes across the city and that one person lost their life.

* * * * *

I’ve never seen anything quite like it. When I left work around 4.30 p.m. and stood waiting on a bus that was 15 minutes late by the time it pulled up to the stop, I could feel such a humid heat and see such dark clouds that I knew a big storm was brewing. Maybe some Thunder to finally wash this sticky heat away for a few days and give us some pleasant weather for walking around in. About two hours later when on Skype to the folks back home I noticed out the window how it looked more like 9 p.m. than six-thirty as a big black cloud circled round our 18th floor window and blocked out any kind of view one might be hoping to get from the 18th floor on a random Thursday evening in Toronto. You could almost count it in … three, two, one … Crack … Thunder in the distance and the first rain drops on the window. I went over, opened the blinds and got ready for what was going to be a big time mother nature firework display.

We had done the same thing a few weeks ago for a big lightning storm, but this one you could tell was going to be huge — It still should have been bright outside but already, with rain crashing against the window and trees pointing almost horizontal from the intense wind picking up, it was dark and with the big cloud around us I could barely see the cars 18 floors below now driving at a crawling pace.

Within about 5 minutes of the rain hitting the window and the thunder rumbles getting distinctly louder I posted the following on facebook:

Huge Thunderstorm out the window can barely see the street 18 floors below with the rain and the dark cloud around the building. Continual lightning flashes and loud rumbles, I think the building has been struck at least once.

Indeed, it was now like standing in front of 20 cameras, flashing all at one go, when looking out our window at the lightning. It was relentless and the rain was only picking up. The window was ferocious but given Toronto’s lack of history with Tornado’s the idea that one might be blowing within kilometers never crossed me excited mind. I just watched on at the big display out the window from all angles. The carpark across from us was hit, then I think our roof again and then the TV show running quietly in the background had a text message come across the bottom of the screen: “Severe Storm Report: Tornado alert in the Greater Toronto Area … stay indoors … more to follow”

We switched on the 24-hour news channel for the city of Toronto and watched what was going on. They already had videos and photos from viewers spilling in showing twisters touching the ground and destroying anything in its path and I turned to the window again to see if anything was heading right for the 18th floor. I wondered what would happen if one came straight at our building? Would it break all the windows and suck me straight out into the abyss and never to be seen again? … Or at least turn up 15 miles East of here on the shores of Lake Ontario covered in blood and surrounded by other objects pulled up from the ground like trees and cars? But by now things were calming down in my neighborhood. The sky was yellow and it looked like a sunrise in the West, a strange sight indeed as the sun was coming up behind the clouds that were now devastating whatever was to the west of me.

No longer had I got the warning of a Tornado than the skies were beautiful again and everything was done and dusted, I felt a little robbed, I had missed seeing a funnel and I felt like someone who goes to a sports event but gets an obstructed viewing seat and misses the best action. But that is being selfish … looking at the photos now on the TV it is clear that a lot of people would love to have missed the funnel because for them their houses are missing a roof or their cars are upside down or a tree has been uprooted and dumped onto their garage, or worse still, all of that has happened. One person even lost their life in the madness and that shouldn’t be forgotten.

But for me personally it was quite an experience and while I never quite seen the funnel touching the ground as the clouds swirlled around my building I do know that it did touch the ground within kilometers of my home and that is enough to say I was in a Tornado and that I survived, at least until that unfortunate time comes when I might actually be ‘in’ a Tornado and get blown away 15 miles down the lakeshore.

Here are some more epic images:

On the subject: Tornado, Weather | ALL SUBJECTS |

............................................................................................................................................................................