Barrie, Ont. tornado survivor's cherished photo blown onto porch 5.5 kms away
When a ruthless tornado blew through a south-end Barrie, Ont., community on Thursday, it ripped apart homes and tossed personal belongings like trash, including a photograph that one survivor had kept as a keepsake.
The photograph belonged to Stephen Galyen, a construction worker who was inside a trailer at a construction site as it was thrown into the air and torn apart.
"There's things moving everywhere, nothing's attached, so you're just hoping it all ends," he described.
Galyen and two of his coworkers who were in the trailer with him survived, but the photograph that was taped to the trailer's wall was lost.
The picture, Galyen said, was a souvenir of better times. "Back to the times when everyone was happy. Everyone's having good times, and after all the things we've been through, it's just something nice to look back at."
The photo had travelled five and a half kilometres to land on Alexis Spiering's back porch in Innisfil.
"I brought it in, and initially, my dad was like, 'That's me,' and I was like, 'No, that's not you. That looks nothing like you.' So we had no idea where this photo came from," she said.
A few days after the discovery, Speiring reached out to CTV News Barrie to help reunite the photo with its rightful owner in hopes someone somewhere would point her in the right direction.
"Maybe that photo had meaning," she added.
Galyen said he saw his photo on CTV News and met with Speiring at the construction site to have it returned.
"This is great," he said as she handed it over. "Thank you so much."
The EF-2 tornado caused a trail of destruction in the Prince William Way area five kilometres long and up to 100 metres wide.
Seventy-one homes were deemed uninhabitable and more than 100 residents were displaced.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
NEW More unauthorized products for skin, sexual enhancement, recalled: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency recalled various items this week, including torches, beef biltong and unauthorized products related to skin care and sexual enhancement.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.
Polar ice is melting and changing Earth's rotation. It's messing with time itself
One day in the next couple of years, everyone in the world will lose a second of their time. Exactly when that will happen is being influenced by humans, according to a new study, as melting polar ice alters the Earth’s rotation and changes time itself.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
NEW 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire': A crowd pleaser that turns it up to 11
Hot on the heels of last year's 'Godzilla Minus One' comes 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,' the first ever Academy Award winner in the giant reptile's decades-long film career.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.