EVA LAKE, ON — Mike Heaton, owner of the former Quetico Centre, is desperately trying to get equipment to the site to help clear away large trees that were knocked onto some of his buildings in a violent storm on Friday.
Fortunately, nobody was injured, but video posted by Sterling Finlayson on his Facebook page shows extensive damage.
Heaton says the storm, which rolled in just after 4:00 p.m., toppled "hundreds" of trees including numerous large white pine, jack pine and red pine.
He told Tbnewwatch that "the way the trees were twisted before they were snapped off, it's quite likely" it was a tornado,
A team from Western University, which collaborates with Environment Canada on tornado investigations, sent a team to Eva Lake and took some pictures of the damage using a drone.
Environment Canada is still waiting to hear their conclusions.
"The storm came from the west, headed due east, and went right through our resident accommodation area," Heaton said.
He said more than 200 trees were destroyed in a long swath about a hundred feet wide, including a substantial number of older trees with trunks up to two feet in diameter.
"They were magnificent trees, but it looks like the moon now," Heaton said.
He and his staff were busy all weekend trying to clean up, but can't do the job without help.
"We've got a lot of trees that fell onto the buildings, so the problem is how to get them off without wrecking the buildings...We're trying to get hold of some kind of a truck that can lift them off."
Heaton acquired the property about seven years ago, and is working to set up an independent high school.
An Environment Canada spokesperson says the federal agency has also received reports of storm damage in the Lake Shebandowan area.
