Residents deal with clean-up, power outages after tornado hits Barrie

Residents in Barrie will start cleaning up after a tornado tore through a neighbourhood, damaging houses and injuring several people.

Eight people were taken to hospital and several others were treated for minor injuries after the funnel cloud touched down around 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Fire officials say roughly 20 homes are considered uninhabitable, with two or three completely destroyed.

Environment Canada is sending a specialist crew to Barrie this morning to get more details on a tornado.

It has been given a preliminary EF-2 rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

Officials say while images and videos posted to social media helped confirm the storm was a tornado, experts will analyze the details of the twister to determine its strength.

This is the house my son and I were in. We are so lucky that Jon called and told us to go in the basement. #Barrie #Tornado Thank you to all of the first responders and public who helped and are continuing to support our community. pic.twitter.com/xnYofzqXb2

— Natalie Harris (Personal Account) (@JustNatHarris) July 16, 2021

The city’s mayor is asking residents to come together and help those who lost most to the twister. Mayor Jeff Lehman called for donations of food and supplies.

This is not the first time a tornado wreaked havoc in Barrie. Back in 1985, eight people were killed and hundreds others injured.