A tale of two cities

Tornadoes link Leamington, Goderich

Mark Ribble

Leamington Post

The F1 and F2 tornadoes that ripped through Leamington in the wee morning hours of June 6, 2010 produced damage never seen before in this area.

Early estimates placed damages into the millions of dollars and the municipality has confirmed a total of $85 million in damages, which still does not include farm and business amounts.

A recent article in the London Free Press placed totals for Leamington at $120 million.

"We have a figure of $85 million, but that doesn't include farms and business, so that figure might very well be accurate," Leamington's Chief Administrative Officer, Bill Marck, says.

The F3 twister that hit Goderich on August 21 killed one person and injured 37 others. So far, the costs there are about $75 million and rising.

The two towns will be forever linked by their respective catastrophic events.

Some say Leamington was fortunate that the storm hit in the middle of the night. The official time was 3:08 a.m. on Sunday, June 6, 2010, a time when most everyone was asleep.

The Goderich tornado hit the middle of the town at about 4:00 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, and despite the one fatality, that town was also lucky in a sense. Fortunately, an earlier thunderstorm had cleared the downtown of hundreds of people attending a weekend festival at the market square.

The Leamington tornado(s) had cut a swath about 40 sq km from the point where it touched down near County Road 31 and Lake Erie, all the way to the East Beach Road, exiting into Lake Erie on the other side of the municipality, traveling east.

The Goderich twister came off Lake Huron in a south-easterly direction, slamming the downtown area and continuing some 19 km into the country, cutting a 1 km path in its wake. It's being called the biggest tornado to hit Ontario in over 15 years.

While the Goderich storm's winds were estimated to reach about 300 kph, Leamington's wind speed estimates came in at about 180 kph.

Damage was extensive in both municipalities with Goderich's downtown getting the brunt of the storm, while Leamington's uptown area escaped unscathed.

Leamingon's neighbours were phenomenal in their response to the disaster, which prompted the question as to what Leamington may have done to help Goderich in their time of need.  To read more go to www.leamingtonpostandshopper.com.