Federal and provincial officials are calling for an improved national emergency warning system in the aftermath of a line of tornadoes that left an 11-year-old boy dead, trees twisted out of the ground, and residents pinned to the sides of buildings.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Monday authorities should look at how they can better warn the public about severe storms, and if there are better alert systems in place elsewhere authorities have a duty to take a look at them.
Chris McCluskey, spokesman for the federal Ministry of Public Safety, said in a statement Monday that the department is working to introduce a national public alert system.
Toronto-based storm chaser Mark Robinson says the problem is not when a tornado warning is issued, but how.
"Environment Canada does a very good job of getting the warnings out in a timely manner. The only issue is ... there's not enough infrastructure in place to get the warning out to everybody," he said.
Environment Canada issued a tornado warning around 3:25 p.m. Thursday afternoon, just over half an hour before the F2 tornado struck Durham, Ont.
Peter Kimbell, Environment Canada warning preparedness meteorologist, called the warning time "extraordinary" in the world of tornadoes.
"We usually wait for a report of a tornado actually happening, but in Durham, we put out a warning before the tornado touched the ground," Kimbell said. "We don't want to cry wolf."
Durham residents who were not listening to the radio at the time had no idea about the brewing storm, said Bill Murdoch, member of the Ontario legislature for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound.
"It just comes up and bang! No one has a chance to tell you."
Camper Owen McPherson, 11, was struck by debris and killed as the twister pummelled a conservation area north of town.
"Another guy was on his bicycle in the (town) gym and the next thing he was thrown up against the wall," Murdoch said. "The guy beside him was crawling around on the floor, they had no idea. They were in there working out and all of a sudden, bang! You're up against the wall."
Durham Police Chief Rene Berger and Fire Chief Bill Schwartz said they were in the dark about the coming storm until the tornado struck their small town of 2,500. The following day, both officials said they had heard reports of thunderstorms in the area, but weren't aware of tornado warnings.
Schwartz said Friday he was nowhere near a radio or television, and heard nothing about the storms until they happened.
Although Environment Canada has a website and call-in weather phone service, local media often play a major role in disseminating alerts to the public.
Manny Paiva, news manager at Bayshore broadcasting which operates three radio stations in the Durham area, said his colleagues quickly aired a tornado warning for a neighbouring community just before 3 p.m.
"I don't know if the exact words 'Get to your basement' were used, but we certainly communicated the warning," Paiva said. He added it's company policy to broadcast the warning every time an announcer turns on the microphone.
"I think we have a huge responsibility, especially in our area -- rural Ontario. There's not a lot of local television service, so radio plays a larger role than in other markets," Paiva said.
But the media should not remain the main avenue to informing the public of severe weather, he said.
"We're not naive enough to think everyone is listening to our radio station," he said. "There's got to be another system in place."
In the U.S., all TV stations in the path of a storm run warnings on tickers across the bottom of the screen. Many communities in the Midwest area known as "tornado alley" also have sirens to alert residents.
But sometimes that system can't prevent the destruction left by tornadoes either, said Robinson.
When one of the most devastating tornadoes in recent memory -- an EF-5, which is the highest rating on the tornado scale -- struck Greensburg, Kan. in 2007, a warning was issued just 15 minutes before it destroyed 95 per cent of the town.
Murdoch doubts the efficiency of the siren system, given the unpredictability of tornadoes.
"I think it would have made you look up for a minute, but, bang -- then it happens. I don't know what more they could have done," he said.
Durham and Vaughan were the hardest hit by the twisters that barrelled across the province, with both communities declaring states of emergency. Environment Canada also confirmed tornado touchdowns in Newmarket and Milton.
A Vaughan man who had a heart attack during the storm, which destroyed nearly 50 homes there, woke from a coma Monday and is expected to recover.
Mayor Linda Jackson said the clean-up there is going well, and Murdoch said Durham has made huge progress.
