Late Sunday afternoon, a violent squall line moved through St. Joseph Island and the North Shore east of Sault Ste. Marie. Extensive tree damage on power lines along the storm’s path contributed to thousands of losing power for hours with some people in remote locations still without power on Tuesday.
On Sunday at 6:30 a.m. here on SooToday, meteorologist Jerry Shields first sounded the alarm that potentially damaging storm could arrive later that day. Shields said “Later this afternoon, and this evening there is a good chance of storms moving into the region that will continue overnight. Some of these storms could be strong wth damaging wind and hail.” By 2:30 p.m., the National Weather Service out of Gaylord, Mich. issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for the Sault region and locations bordering St. Joseph Island. By 4:08 p.m., Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Sault Ste. Marie, St. Joseph Island, Searchmont, Montreal River and Batchawana Bay.
At 4:38 p.m., the Mackinac Island Airport reported winds to 96km/h and the Montreal River radar image showed a well-developed squall line of thunderstorms heading towards St. Joseph Island and the North Channel. By 5:15 p.m., the damaging winds hit St. Joseph Island with a gust of 76km/h recorded in a wooded area just outside Hilton Beach. The strong straight lines winds hit the island ahead of the squall line to cause considerable tree damage that knocked out power and blocked roads. One of the Hilton Beach Marina docks was pulled 8 feet from the shoreline due to the tremendous power of the wind on the boats docked at the marina.
The photogenic storm continued across the North Channel and past Thessalon recording winds of 68km/h in Massey and 71km/h in Gore Bay as power was knocked out for thousands between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury.
When asked about the storm and its intensity Shields said, “Immediately people started asking if that was a tornado and how strong the winds were. From the wind damage and the strong winds even below the canopy, I’m sure that gusts exceeded 100km/h at the treetops and in open areas. With most trees falling west to east, it was pretty clear that it was straight-line winds and not a tornado.”
The video above includes reader submitted clips from St. Joseph Island and Bruce Mines.
The following is an update from Algoma Power:
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As of Tuesday at 4:00 p.m., Algoma Power Inc. (API) reports less than 25 smaller outages, affecting under 120 customers. These pockets of outages remain from storm damage that occurred on Sunday, June 11. The locations of the outages are east of Sault Ste. Marie in the Bruce Mines, Desbarats, and St. Joe’s Island areas.
API crews will continue restoring power Tuesday evening with the support of additional contracted power line maintainers and forestry crews. It is expected that most customers will have their power restored today.
IMPORTANT: API wants to continue to remind the public to be cautious and aware that:
- Downed wires should always be considered energized or "live", and extremely dangerous.
- Do not approach or drive over a downed power line and do not touch anything it may be in contact with.
- If a downed power line falls on a vehicle, passengers should stay in the vehicle until help arrive.
- Parents are encouraged to talk to their children about the dangers associated with power lines.
For safety reasons, please turn off your main breaker if you will be away from your premise when power is restored.
Call 1-844-901-WIRE to report any outages/emergencies.
Follow API on Twitter @APIpower or at our website at www.algomapower.com for outage updates.
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