Wild video captures moment tornado touches down in Uxbridge, Ont.
Wild video captures moment tornado touches down in Uxbridge, Ont.
New video has emerged showing the moment a tornado touched down in Uxbridge, Ont. over the weekend, ripping the roof off a local brewery in the process.
The footage was captured by several cameras attached to a Tesla that was parked outside the Second Wedge Brewery on Victoria Street.
It shows the sky quickly darkening as the EF2 tornado first touched down in the area on Saturday afternoon.
A camera positioned at the rear of the vehicle initially shows heavy winds pummeling a tent that had been set up outside the brewery, tearing up the canopy and bending the metal frame.
Then within seconds a stream of debris, including what appears to be lumber and insulation from the brewery’s roof, starts to fly through a shot captured by a front facing camera.
The whole thing unfolds over about two minutes of footage and by the time it is done you can see another parked vehicle with at least two broken windows and a mound of debris in the foreground.
The Toronto resident, whose vehicle captured the footage, told CP24.com that he had just arrived at the brewery with his wife and seven-month-old son when the rain started falling.
He said that he did get the emergency alert warning of approaching thunderstorms on his phone but was seated inside and wasn’t particularly concerned at first.
Debris is shown hitting a vehicle in Uxbridge as a EF2 tornado touched down over the weekend. (CanuckChris/YouTube)
The situation, however, quickly changed.
“The rain started to pick up quite heavily and as the staff was closing the bay doors at the front of the building I looked over at my wife and said ‘Wow, it is coming down really heavy.’ A second or two later it had picked up to the point that it wasn’t a ‘oh wow’, it was an ‘oh no.,’” Chris Kreasul said.
“We were going to relocate to the back off the bar. We got two steps away from the table we were sitting at and then there was a really loud cracking sound. My wife turned around to protect our seven-month old son from the glass shattering from the windows and I bear hugged them, covered them up and covered my head. I just waited it out as all the debris from the roof fell on top of me.”
Saturday’s storm caused widespread damage throughout Uxbridge, prompting the town to declare a state of emergency.
Environment Canada has previously said that the tornado was embedded within the leading edge of a derecho, which is a widespread and long-lived windstorm associated with a line of thunderstorms.
At one point a maximum wind speed of 195 kilometres per hour was recorded.
“It was like a war zone,” Kreasul said of the scene outside the brewery after the storm passed. “There was downed tress everywhere, debris of all kinds all over the place, the roof from the brewery was missing and across the parking lot on top of two vehicles. It just didn’t look like the same place as it was when we got there.”
Kreasul said that he didn’t actually think to check the video footage from his Tesla until a few days after the tornado, as he was pretty shaken up by what transpired.
He said that while his car was “beaten up” with a cracked windshield and a damage roof, he was able to drive his family home to Toronto following the storm.
- Download our app to get local alerts to your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
More importantly, he said that nobody was injured.
“It is a miracle we got away as well as we did. Looking at the video I can’t believe nobody was seriously hurt,” he said.
The co-founder of the brewery told CTV News Toronto earlier this week that the business could be closed for upwards of a year due to the damage
The brewery is one of at least 35 properties in Uxbridge that was heavily damaged as a result of the storm.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada outperformed most G10 countries during first two years of pandemic response: study
Canada handled key aspects of the COVID-19 response better in the first two years of the pandemic than most G10 countries, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Toronto, Unity Health Toronto and St. Michael's hospital.

Zelenskyy tells G7 summit Ukraine forces face urgent moment
Leading economic powers conferred by video link with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday as they underscored their commitment to Ukraine for 'as long as it takes' with plans to pursue a price cap on Russian oil, raise tariffs on Russian goods and impose other new sanctions.
Avalanche dethrone Lightning to win Stanley Cup for 3rd time
After years of playoff disappointments, the Colorado Avalanche are back atop hockey's mountain with a 2-1 Game 6 win against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions Tampa Bay Lightning.
Republican calls overturning Roe v. Wade a 'victory for white life'
U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois, speaking at a rally Saturday night with former U.S. President Donald Trump, called the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade a 'victory for white life.'
What's the impact of a Russian debt default?
Russia is poised to default on its foreign debt for the first time since the Bolshevik Revolution more than a century ago, further alienating the country from the global financial system following sanctions imposed over its war in Ukraine.
'Deepest apologies': Central Alberta rodeo organizers shocked by parade float
Organizers of a central Alberta rodeo and its parade committee are calling for calm after a float in this weekend's parade, which possessed a racist theme, was seen in the procession.
Censors delete discussion of Beijing's future COVID control
Digital censors quickly deleted a hashtag 'the next five years' Monday as online discussion swirled in response to reported remarks of Beijing's Communist Party secretary saying that the capital city will normalize pandemic prevention controls over the course of the next five years.
South Africa tavern deaths: 21 teens likely killed by something they drank, ate or smoked
South African authorities investigating 21 teenagers found dead at an east coast tavern over the weekend said on Monday the youths were probably killed by something they ate, drank or smoked, ruling out the earlier-touted possibility of a stampede.
PM Trudeau to meet India's Modi one-on-one at G7 sidelines
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed G7 leaders virtually at their summit in Germany as they discussed the threat to global stability posed by Russia's invasion of his country.