A group tracking powerful storms across Canada says an EF0 storm is responsible for the significant damage that occurred at Rogers Stadium when a powerful system hit Toronto earlier this month. The Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) said a ground survey was completed on Sept. 11 following a violent storm on Sept. 2 that brought intense periods of heavy rain, destructive winds, and hail to Canada’s largest city. “Damage to homes and apartment buildings, trees and temporary structures at an outdoor concert venue was reported in the Downsview area of North York after a storm passed through,” the group wrote in a report on the storm. The EF0 downburst, the group said, saw a maximum wind speed of about 125 km/h, causing damage to an area that was approximately 7.1 kilometres long and up to 2.8 kilometres wide. Rogers Stadium, where the group says the “worst” of the damage was found, was forced to cancel a Sept. 16 AC/DC concert due to damage to the temporary outdoor venue. “There were isolated reports of damage from the same storm in Brampton and Woodbridge but not enough evidence was found to confirm events there,” NTP wrote. “Overall, the storm appears to be a large hail-generating high-precipitation supercell dominated by outflow at the surface. However, this supercell went on to generate two weak supercell tornadoes in the state of New York within the next two hours.” The 100-year storm knocked out power and flooded major highways across Toronto, including the Don Valley Parkway.
