A mid-afternoon storm Wednesday on Prince Edward Island brought high winds, hail, rain, thunder and lightning.
The storm blew through Charlottetown at about 1:40 p.m. and knocked out power to thousands of Maritime Electric customers, mostly in Charlottetown.
CBC meteorologist Ryan Snodden called it a “wild day of weather” across central and eastern areas of the province.
“We’ve seen slow-moving thunderstorms producing very heavy rainfall, gusty winds and some localized hail,” Snoddon said. “Rainfall rates of near 50 mm/h have been estimated on the radar.”
He said it also appears a tornado very likely touched down near Souris in eastern P.E.I. A video submitted to CBC News shows trees being thrown high in the air and the funnel becoming visible once the tornado moves over the water.
In Little Harbour, near Souris, Brielle Campbell told CBC News about what she saw when looking at the storm from inside her house.
“It seemed like the clouds were spinning. It started just on the ground, in the field,” Campbell said. “It spun things up. It was kind of crazy.”
RAW VIDEO: Possible tornado spotted in eastern P.E.I.
Nearby, at Blair Chapman’s house, the weather was also chaotic.
“That included some shrubs flying up in the air to the east of our property,” Chapman said.
“We had two nice apple trees. They got toppled. Then we could see some trees at the treeline, they got uprooted. They were flying in the air like toothpicks.…
“It was like a scene from The Wizard of Oz.”
The storm was unpredictable, too. People reported heavy rain, then sunshine, then a downpour again.
Charlottetown police warned of localized flooding in the city, and said drivers should be careful.
Some streets in the Sherwood and Parkdale areas were closed due to flooding. Some businesses closed as well, as did the sports centre at UPEI.
“The risk of severe thunderstorms will continue this afternoon and into early this evening, especially across the eastern half of the Island,” Snoddon said.
