Severe thunderstorms pass through Ont.

Jul 20, 2020

While some farms were left untouched, others weren’t as fortunate

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Powerful thunderstorms made their way through southern Ontario on Sunday.

Images of heavy rains, high winds and flashes of lightning, as well as news of power outages, surfaced on social media.

Environment Canada issued tornado warnings in multiple communities. At one point, Hydro One reported more than 30,000 customers in the southwestern and central parts of the province were without power.

Some farmers in rural Ontario consider themselves fortunate to not have experienced any damage during the storm.

“We got about an inch of rain. We heard that some farmers had damage but, really, we had none. Our crops still look good,” Keith Bennewies, a cash crop producer from Perth County, told Farms.com. “We drove by some fields that had damage and you could see some downed corn, so you feel for those farmers.”

Other producers weren’t home when the storm hit, which caused a little bit of anxiety on the drive home.

“I was at the grocery store in town when the storm passed through,” said Mike Stuyt, a cash cropper from Middlesex County. “On the whole way home, I wondered what I would find. But, from what I can tell, our wheat looks good and we didn’t have any damage.”

Some farmers, however, felt the full effects of the storm.

The system caused significant damage to a grain bin and elevator at Clifford Knip’s farm near Lucan, Ont.

“Everything was empty getting ready for the wheat harvest to be put in (the) yard,” he told CTV. “We’ll have to go to option B now, whatever that is.”

A dairy farm in Thetford, Ont., also experienced severe damage.

The storm destroyed a dry shed and a dairy barn at Van Engelen Dairy Farms. The wind also snapped trees and broke blades off a wind turbine.

“I can’t really say that I saw the tornado but it was very powerful winds” Eddy Van Engelen told CBC. “I went inside a dry shed and looked back and everything was gone.”

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