A weekend trip to the beach in Grand Bend took a scary turn for a local family when a massive tree branch snapped during intense storms, crushing their car with them inside.
Ian Parkin had just parked the family vehicle and was heading to the beach with his daughters on Saturday afternoon when severe thunderstorms rolled into the area. Instantly, the family abandoned its plans and went back to the car.
"We got in the car, put it in reverse and all of the sudden - bang - a tree fell on our car while we were in it," said Parkin. "It smashed the roof and a branch went right through the windshield and came within about four inches of my chest... All three girls were sitting in the back. They were hysterical."
The caved-in roof of the vehicle hit Parkin on the head, but otherwise, no one was seriously hurt in the incident. As a precaution, Parkin planned to see his doctor for a check-up on Monday.
"I was counting my lucky stars," said Parkin, who noted with the size of the downed tree limb the incident could have easily proved fatal. "Someone was looking out for us, that's for sure."
Parkin said his vehicle has since been towed to the wrecking yard and is a write-off.
The violent storm that snapped the tree like a twig was brought on by extreme heat and humidity that blanketed southwestern Ontario over the weekend, triggering heat warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings. The thick black clouds packed torrential downpours, ping-pong ball-sized hail and wind gusts of around 100 km/h.
In addition to downed trees, the severe storms led to power outages across the region including in the Highland, Southcrest, Fox Hollow, Hyde Park, and Oakridge areas of London.
Despite the sweltering conditions, no heat records were broken Friday or Saturday.
"Friday we got to 30.5 C in London, just shy of the record of 33.9 set back in 1946. The storms came too early and provided cloud cover so the temperatures didn't go as high as expected," said Environment Canada Meteorologist Gerald Cheng. "On Saturday, we reached 32.9 C which fell short of the old record set back in 1987 of 35.3 C. So we suffered through that heat and we didn't even break the records."
The humidity was what made the weekend feel so oppressively hot, Cheng said. While the daytime temperatures sat in the low 30s, the humidity made it feel like the low-to-mid 40s.
The heatwave was thankfully short-lived though, with cooler air ushering in the start of this week.
"The jet stream is digging and that is why it's allowing the cooler air to filter into southwestern Ontario and will be sitting around below seasonal for the next couple of days," said Cheng. "Toward the weekend we will be looking at temperatures going closer to 30 C but nothing like last week."
