Chatham, Ont. storm which downed dozens of trees classified as EF0 downburst

Nick Kamarlingos and his wife Nancy had decided to move from the front room of their house to the kitchen just moments before a tree crushed the front of their Gregory Drive home.

“We stepped into the kitchen and all we heard big bang on the roof when it came down,” said Kamarlingos, as he watched a tree service crew cut apart the tree.

He added, “We had just put that porch on last week, and finished shingling the roof. But we're very lucky that it was the porch which actually took the brunt of the hit to save the house.”

A few blocks away, residents on Selkirk Street were some of the 300 still without power more than 36 hours after the storm, which came through late in the day on Aug. 24.

“It has been so chaotic,” said Steve Melnyk, a Selkirk Street resident who lives steps away from where a massive tree fell, closing the road for more than two days.

Nick Kamarlingos records video of a tree being removed from on top of his home in Chatham, Ont. on Aug. 26, 2023. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

“We heard a thump looked outside, and I thought it [the tree] hit my van. There were sparks everywhere and it was just a mess. We were lucky enough to have cars in the driveway but the neighbours’ cars are all on the road because they don’t have driveways, and all three got totalled,” he explained.

The Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) research team from London, Ont.’s Western University surveyed the Chatham area Friday.

“In Chatham there was straight line wind damage, and all trees falling in the same direction, so we classified as that as an EF0 downburst,” explained Francis Lavigne-Theriault, a NTP research associate.

A tree was ripped from the ground on Selkirk Street in Chatham, Ont. after an EF0 downburst on Aug. 24, 2023. (Brent Lale/CTV News London).

He added, "Across the city it was widespread, but fairly localized. There were trees down, tree branches and damage to roofs".

At least four different tree service teams were in the city on Saturday, and hydro crews had restored power to nearly all homes.

“My power was out for 16 hours, but it’s awesome to see how they are working,” said Chatham resident Tim Haskell. “They brought back power to like 12,000 people within hours, and I think they deserve a hand.” 

A car on Selkirk Street in Chatham, Ont. was destroyed after an EF0 downburst on Aug. 24, 2023. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)