Old Chinese Curse

...says: May you live in interesting times!

Shortly before 2pm today, Ontario had a magnitude 5.0 earthquake that apparently rattled buildings from Sudbury in the north to New York City in the south ...an area that includes us! There've only been 2 recorded earthquakes in this area with a greater magnitude.

So you'd think that would be enough.... but about 6 pm, we also had a tornado come through Midland, a town only 20 minutes away from us.

This poor guy has already started trying to clean up... He lives just off the area where touch down occurred
The rest of the hydro pole was sheered off at about car height but left standing. The city is declared a disaster area. There were rubber neckers everywhere, including us. Where the worst damage occurred was cordoned off. It was still light enough to see but not enough daylight left for long angle photography; so that was the best I could do.

This is the second tornado I've been through but not directly affected by.This was Barrie in 1985 when an F4 tornado touched down and destroyed the south end of the city. I remember driving past some of the damaged areas; it looked like a war zone. Trees were left still standing without a single leaf or any bark left. There 155 deaths that time; I believe todays damage was to property only.

According to Environment Canada, during an average year, we get approximately 80 reported tornadoes. Many more touch down in unpopulated areas and go undetected.

I think I've had enough interesting times for one day!