Video footage shows significant damage to a Home Hardware location in Ayr, Ont. after a massive storm — and possibly a tornado — passed through the area near Cambridge in Waterloo Region on Saturday morning.
Self-proclaimed “storm hunter” Mark Robinson shared the dramatic footage on social-media site X, along with an interview with Home Hardware employee Alex Breen, who was working when the wild weather was unleashed.
“We just started looking outside once the wind started getting going. We could just see things flying around everywhere,” Breen told Robinson. “We all start running to the back of the store and the back of the store starts collapsing so everyone’s got to run forward to the front. Thankfully that part didn’t fall down.”
Breen added: “It was loud. It was so loud.”
The video footage shows that a significant portion of the roof at the Home Hardware was destroyed.
Environment Canada issued a tornado warning at 10:43 a.m., telling residents in the area to “take immediate cover in a basement or interior room if weather threat approaches” and to “shelter from flying debris if outside.”
Ayr is located in the Township of North Dumfries, just south of Kitchener and west of Cambridge.
A tornado watch remained in effect for Waterloo Region early Saturday afternoon, with hazards including potential tornadoes, 90 km/h wind gusts, “toonie size hail” and heavy downpours into the evening.
Severe thunderstorm watches were in effect across parts of Ontario, including the GTA on Saturday.