Product:STAR Date:08-23-2009Desk: NEW-0006-CMYK/22-08-09/22:41:32
A6 SUNDAY ON SU0
A6 H TORONTO STAR H SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2009
STORM AFTERMATH
A picnic shelter lies in ruins yesterday in the Saugeen Valley Conservation Area near Durham, where Owen MacPherson, 11, was killed Thursday when a tornado swept through.
‘Someone’s child didn’t make it’
Boy, 11, was among a group of campers who sought
refuge in a picnic shelter — and then the twister hit
DAN ROBSON
STAFF REPORTER
DURHAM—The picnic shelter where
Owen MacPherson died now sits in
a twisted heap.
The 11-year-old from nearby Ay-
ton was killed when a tornado tore
through the small town of Durham,
southwest of Owen Sound, on
Thursday afternoon. He had sought
shelter there with several other
children from a nature day camp in
a local conservation area as the
storm hit, just before 4 p.m.
Minutes earlier, Tracy, a mother
COUNTING
DISASTER
Vaughan lifts state of emergency
Dazed residents try
to restore order to their
lives as city tries to tally
the costs of damage
JESSE MCLEAN
STAFF REPORTER
Dorothy Panzica hasn’t been back
into her home since a tornado tore
off her roof, scattering shingles and
tufts of insulation down her street.
And there’s a chance the 37-year-
old will never get back inside.
“The roof’s ripped up. Our walls
are caving in. The fire marshal told
me it got the worst of it, said it’s
probably a write-off,” she said.
Panzica’s home is one of 44 the
city of Vaughan has deemed unin-
habitable, several of which will be
razed in the next week.
Vaughan’s Mayor Linda Jackson
lifted the state of emergency at 6
p.m. yesterday, nearly two days af-
ter a tornado damaged about 600
homes in Woodbridge and Maple.
The storm blew in Thursday after-
noon, just as families were prepar-
ing for the supper hour.
Area residents likened the roar to
a freight train going through their
neighbourhoods with devastating
fury.
“It didn’t last more than a min-
ute,” Alex Olivera of Woodbridge
said shortly after the storm passed
Thursday. “Once it passed, we came
outside and saw that half of our roof
was gone.”
Yesterday, as hundreds of city
workers and contractors spent the
day repairing roofs, boarding win-
dows and cleaning debris, dazed
SEE IT ONLINE:
of one of the campers, pulled down
the gravel road to the day camp. The
rain fell hard, and the wind blew
chaotically. She ran into the shelter
to get her son, Brian, 11, and two
other campers. “It just started—
and my car lifted and slammed,”
she said yesterday. “It pulled us
about six or seven feet.”
Tracy, who did not want to give
her last name, began to cry as she
recalled what came next. “It hap-
pened so fast. You just try to make
sure your own kids are okay.”
The tornado that ripped through
44
Homes in Vaughan that
the city has deemed
uninhabitable, forcing
families to find refuge elsewhere.
HERE WE BLOW AGAIN
Funnel cloud bears down on Unionville yesterday
Reader Justine Hunt spotted this cloud hovering over Main St., Unionville.
Several clouds were seen as the storm moved in, but caused no damage.
Now, it’s about rebuilding lives
as quick as possible
VAUGHAN MAYOR LINDA JACKSON
residents tried to restore order to
their lives.
“The last few days have been very
stressful for our residents,” said
Jackson, standing just steps away
from the skeleton frame of a Subaru
Legacy. The car had been swept
from a nearby driveway by the
View an interactive storm tracker to follow Hurricane Bill, plus view a video of
local cleanup efforts and dramatic photos from our readers, all at thestar.com
the Saugeen Valley Conservation
Area picked up a gatehouse and
tossed it into the nearby bushes. It
struck the shelter where the camp-
ers were taking refuge — and man-
gled it into a ball of metal and wood
beams.
Owen was inside.
His mother frantically tried to
save him, with the help of local
camper Rick Coveyduck, who
heard her screams.
It took almost 30 minutes for an
ambulance to negotiate the tree-
littered roads of Durham, where
houses were struck and lives up-
rooted.
Yesterday, Tracy trembled as she
recalled those terrible moments.
240
Highest wind
speed, in km/h, in
the storm that tore
through Woodbridge and Maple.
storm’s 200 km/h-plus winds and
dumped 40 metres away.
“Now, it’s about rebuilding lives as
quick as possible,” Jackson said.
Fortunately, help is easy to come
by, Panzica said. A neighbour lent
her clothes, and a firefighter and a
contractor sifted through her home
!SU0 230809ON A 006Q!
“Someone’s child didn’t make it,”
she said, her eyes welling.
Owen — identified by friends, not
police — was the only fatality in
Thursday’s tornado.
Tracy was one of hundreds who
came to the park yesterday to pay
their respects and survey the dam-
age.
Don and Annie Meek brought
their three young daughters. The
girls, who were to attend the nature
camp on Thursday, stayed home
and watched the movie Twister
with their parents. The irony still
puts knots in Annie’s stomach.
Yesterday, the streets of Durham
were lined with volunteers working
to get the close-knit community
4 1
Confirmed tornadoes that
touched down in southern
Ontario on Thursday,
according to Environment Canada.
to find her passport.
Meanwhile, Jorge Pestana and his
wife Laura Vidal-Pestana handed
out food and drinks to their neigh-
bours, several of whom have heard
they won’t be able to return to their
homes for at least six months.
“This is a tight-knit street,” Pesta-
na said. “We’re all family. To us,
coming together is natural.”
Public Safety Minister Peter Van
Loan, who toured the wrecked
homes alongside the mayor, said
the federal government would step
in with disaster support funds if
needed.
The province, which shares the re-
sponsibility with municipalities for
communities ravaged by storms,
has $12.5 million in aid set aside, a
source confirmed.
There is no current estimate of
damage, Jackson said, except that
it’s “in the millions of millions.”
That figure should be clearer after
insurance companies finish their
damage assessments, she said.
Although they were not needed on
the first night, Vaughan is keeping
two emergency reception centres
open for now. They are: Father Er-
manno Bulfon Community Centre
at 8141 Martin Grove Rd., and the
Maple Community Centre at 10190
Keele St.
Environment Canada confirmed
four tornadoes touched down in
southern Ontario, tearing through
Vaughan, Newmarket, Milton and
Durham, near Owen Sound, where
an 11-year-old boy was killed when
he was hit by debris.
Several funnel clouds were spot-
ted yesterday evening as another
storm moved into York Region.
BLACK
YELLOW
MAGENTA
CYAN CMYK
ON
DAN ROBSON/TORONTO STAR
back on its feet. Hundreds had
come to offer support.
In nearby Ayton, the MacPherson
family gathered in a farmhouse.
Cars filled with family and friends
rolled up the long driveway, parking
in front of a brown barn, next to an
empty swing set.
A grey tool box, marked “Owen
MacPherson,” sat on a nearby
bench, near a pair of rubber boots,
neatly marked with an “O.M.” in-
side each.
Toys were scattered near the front
door, where two young children
smiled when they answered the
door. A woman came up behind
them, and politely declined to com-
ment on the tragedy.
Fatality. An 11-year-old boy
died in Durham, Ont. One
Vaughan man, whose home
was demolished, is in a coma.
Hurricane Bill over the Atlantic.
NOVA SCOTIANS
BRACING FOR BILL
HALIFAX—Store lineups were lon-
ger than usual yesterday as Nova
Scotians stocked up on food, bev-
erages and other necessities in
preparation for the impending ar-
rival of a nasty guest.
Hurricane Bill, an unruly giant
spanning 750 kilometres from tip
to swirling tip, was expected to hit
Atlantic Canada early today as a
Category 1 hurricane. As such, it
would pack heavy rains and be ca-
pable of uprooting trees, tearing
down electrical lines and toppling
utility poles.
The hurricane is expected to
pass by eastern Cape Breton by
nightfall today and make landfall
over the French islands of St-
Pierre-Miquelon, followed by
Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula
by tomorrow. It is not expected to
strengthen in intensity along the
way and may even weaken.
Rainfall warnings of up to 150
milimetres were issued for all of
Nova Scotia and eastern Prince
Edward Island for today.
In Nova Scotia, provincial parks
were closed and people were ad-
vised to stay away from beaches.
The Canadian Press