Severe thunderstorm pelts Ontario, Toronto

The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in Canada, home to over 200,000 Jamaicans, is being pelted with torrential rain as a severe thunderstorm, featuring lightning, strong winds and tennis-ball-sized hail, passes over the province of Ontario.

Environment Canada issued an emergency warning just after 5:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. Jamaica time) due to “destructive winds and very large hail”.

It cautioned that the risk of tornadoes could still be headed to the Toronto region and urged residents to stay indoors where possible and shelter from flying debris if outside.

The GTA includes communities such as Brampton, Mississauga and Toronto, which have high Caribbean populations.

Environment Canada is forecasting downpours of up to 50 millimetres, with possible wind gusts of over 110 kilometres per hour.

“There still remains some uncertainty with how strong thunderstorms could become due to some lingering cloud cover across the region which could inhibit how much instability builds in,” a red warning advisory read.

“Latest trends in observational data and models still indicate that sufficient instability should build, leading to a robust severe weather threat.”

The agency added that utility outages, as well as significant damage to property, buildings and trees, are possible, and there is also a risk of serious injury.

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