Lake of Bays assessing tornado damage, asking for resident input

The Township of Lake of Bays is conducting a survey to help the Province of Ontario collect information on the impact of the tornado that touched down on August 4 in the Limberlost area. That tornado was the final of three to strike the Huntsville area and the one that remained on ground the longest.

The first tornado, which was last to be confirmed, touched down at about 3:30 p.m. near Old Muskoka Road and was classified as an EF-1 tornado with a maximum wind speed estimated at 160 km/h, a path length of 4.2 kilometres and a maximum width of 250 metres.

(Video footage below by Andrea Brown shows some of the damage from the first tornado)

The second tornado landed in the south side of Huntsville at 3:52 p.m., remaining on land for about one kilometre and then continuing across Fairy Lake as a tornadic waterspout for one-and-a-half kilometres.

Crazy tornado touches down in front of the cottage on fairy lake in Huntsville ON @weathernetwork #scaredparents #LOOKOUT #StormChasers pic.twitter.com/H1iLrHUTn1

— Kevin Walsh (@K_Wa7sh) August 4, 2017

The third tornado occurred 17 kilometres northeast of Huntsville in Lake of Bays at between 4:10 and 4:15 p.m., tracking for about nine kilometres from near Pell Lake northeast to Dotty Lake. (Aerial photos below courtesy of Brian Tapley.)

The Township said it is “assisting the province in collecting information on the impact of the tornado, particularly on permanent residences. This and other information will be used by the province to determine if a Provincial Disaster Assessment Team should be sent to further assess the damage.”

If your property was impacted by the Lake of Bays tornado, click here to take the survey.

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