'The noise was like a freight train,' Barrie tornado victim sought refuge in car
Connie Barszcz was dropping off a package to a friend's home in Barrie ahead of the storm on July 15, but by the time she got there, the weather had taken a turn for the worse.
Her friend wasn't home, and the winds were rapidly picking up speed, leaving Barszcz to seek refuge in her car.
"I thought I was going to die," she says. "That's why I was calling my husband. I just wanted to say goodbye.
I just felt like this was going to be the end of it, and part of me wanted to jump out of the car to find somewhere better to be, but really it was the best place for me to be."
Experts said it was an EF-2 tornado that ripped through the city's southeast neighbourhood, tearing second-storeys from homes, flipping vehicles and uprooting trees.
Barszcz says she considers the fact that she is alive today a miracle.
"It was just like looking in a snowball. It was like you could not see anything, and the noise was like a freight train," she says. "All I could hear was things smashing into my car, smashing into houses."
As the community continues to pick up the pieces, emergency services ask those who don't live in the tornado-stricken area to stay away.
"This isn't a sight-seeing event," says Derek Wilson, the assistant deputy fire chief for Barrie Fire and Emergency Services.
"This is, people's lives were significantly disrupted, and if we could respect the process that they are going through, it would be really encouraged and appreciated," he adds.
CITY SEEKS PROVINCIAL RELIEF FUNDING
The City of Barrie is unsure whether it will receive emergency funding from the province following the tornado 10 days ago.
As of Monday, 70 unsafe orders remain in effect on homes in the area of Prince William Way in the city's southeast end.
The city hired a contractor to chip the debris from trees left out on the curb as homeowners and volunteers continue to work towards getting some of the hardest-hit neighbourhoods back to normal.
"It's a slow rebuild, I guess you could say," says Mike Nicoloff, who has spent most of the last 10 days helping his brother-in-law pick up the pieces after the tornado hit his home. "Right now, it's cleaned up quite a bit. It really doesn't give you the full story unless you're there when it happened, and it's incredible."
The city expects to receive confirmation whether it will qualify for Ontario's Disaster Relief Assistance Program (ODRAP) in the coming days. ODRAP works towards helping cities, individuals, farmers, and non-profits recover following a disaster.
"For some of the folks, this is going to be a longer-term recovery," Deputy Fire Chief Derek Wilson says.
"Some of the buildings were very, very badly damaged and will need significant reconstruction. So some of those folks are looking at months probably, not weeks in their recovery," he notes.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NDP motion regarding Palestinian statehood passes after major Liberal alterations
A motion from the federal New Democrats initially calling on Canada to recognize the 'State of Palestine' passed amid widespread acrimony on Monday, after the Liberals drastically altered its wording to see the government simply work towards that aim as part of a two-state solution.
'He didn't want to die': Family of Calgary man killed in standoff speaks out
Family of a Calgary man killed after a 30-hour standoff with police last week are speaking out, sharing details of the tense and heart-wrenching experience.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.
Ohio mom who left toddler alone 10 days when she went on vacation pleads guilty to aggravated murder
An Ohio mother whose 16-month-old daughter died after being left home alone in a playpen for 10 days last summer while she went on vacation was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no chance of parole.
Retired teacher pleads guilty to paying for sex with 15-year-old in Collingwood, Ont.
In a Barrie courtroom on Monday, a retired high school teacher from the Niagara Region pleaded guilty to sexual touching and obtaining sexual services from a 15-year-old boy in Collingwood in 2021.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
5 charged in Calgary kidnappings that targeted women
Calgary police have charged five men in a pair of kidnappings last year that targeted innocent victims.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Canadian commander of volunteer fighter group dies in Ukraine
A Canadian-born commander of the so-called Norman Brigade, a volunteer fighting group in Ukraine, has died.