On July 9, 2018, a major storm ripped through New Sudbury and caused extensive property damage and left 4,000 thousand homes and businesses without power.
Environment Canada deemed the summer storm a downburst with winds reaching near 100 km/h which uprooted trees and snapped powerlines.
“Our meteorologists, they were looking at the archive radar today, checking back at what happened, and it seemed like from the radar echoes that it was a downburst,” said meteorologist Gerald Cheng told Sudbury.com at the time.
“A downburst is basically a very strong wind that comes down from the thunderstorm and hits the ground and spreads out … That is why we are seeing some of the damage that we are seeing right now.”
This downburst was “very localized,” he said, with much of the damage reported in the New Sudbury area.
At the weather stations at the Sudbury Airport and the North Bay Airport, wind speeds were under 40 km/h during the storm.
“But that's not indicative of the damage that the storm caused, because obviously to have damage like that, you really need a wind of at least 100 km/h,” Cheng said.
Besides extensive property damage and downed trees in the Montrose area of New Sudbury, the storm also severely damaged the Smith's Market on Lasalle Boulevard. The damage was so severe, the store was closed for six weeks while repairs were done.
Luckily no one was seriously injured as a result of the storm.
Watch the video below to see the extent of the damage.
