Storm damages area barn, uproots trees

It came out of nowhere. Paulette and Brian Wells, who own Hollyhock Hill Alpacas on County Road 18 in Oxford Mills, had just finished up planting for the day. It was around dinner time on Saturday and the pair were thinking about starting up the barbecue.

Paulette went inside and noticed the weather alert on TV. She told Brian and they both went into the house as clouds started to roll in. Paulette says two minutes later, the downpour started.

She noted there were very strong winds and she couldn’t see outside, so she went to the door and saw her planter fly by. A few minutes later, hail the size of dimes started coming down, according to Paulette. 

After the storm passed, the pair went outside to check things out. Their barn suffered extensive damage and several trees, including a 90 ft Poplar, on their property were uprooted. None of the alpacas were hurt. 

Geoff Coulson, Warning Preparedness Meteorologist with Environment Canada, says there were reports of funnel clouds north of Kemptville, towards Ottawa, on Saturday evening. There are no eyewitness reports or videos confirming a tornado or microburst locally. 

Anyone with videos or photos of the storm are asked to send them to [email protected] so Environment Canada can piece together what happened.