Environment Canada issued a tornado ontario warning for Southwestern Ontario at 4:25 p.m. on Saturday, along with a severe thunderstorm warning for the same area. The notice covered Goderich, Bluewater, Chatham-Kent and Southern Huron County as a line of thunderstorms developed in Michigan and moved east.
Goderich and Chatham-Kent
The warning told people in the affected communities to remain indoors or take cover during the storms and to secure loose objects. Environment Canada said the system carried a risk of tornadoes, loonie-sized hail and winds up to 90 kilometres per hour.
Michigan storms moving east
The weather system developed in Michigan before heading toward Ontario, putting several Southwestern Ontario communities under alert at the same time. Environment Canada also said local utility outages were possible.
Southwestern Ontario alert
For people in the warned areas, the immediate step was to stay inside and move to shelter if conditions worsened. The alert covered multiple communities at once, which left little room for a gradual response as the storm line approached from the west.
