Skip to main content

A fierce storm that some residents were convinced was a tornado hit east of New Brunswick's capital Saturday night, leaving behind a wake of uprooted trees, broken phone lines and damaged buildings.

The area that faced the storm's greatest wrath was in the Grand Lake area, about 40 kilometres from Fredericton.

"It's quite scary when it's that close to home," said John Gunter, of Whites Cove.

His house was spared, but Gunter said the property of his neighbours only one kilometre away, suffered some of the most severe damage.

They lost two barns and a large garage to the storm, Gunter said.

"It completely removed the garage from the foundation and threw it in the wood, probably a thousand, fifteen-hundred feet away," he said.

The damage path is not very wide but extends 19 to 24 kilometres west to east, between the communities of Jemseg and Codys, Gunter added.

Blair Cummings, the owner of a store in Cambridge-Narrows, was out for a drive when he came across the storm.

"There's quite a substantial amount of trees and foliage taken down," he said.

No injuries were reported.

Environment Canada says it plans on sending a team out to the area on Monday to investigate the damage.

"A typical investigation would be just to go out and see the damage swath and width ... to get an estimate of wind speeds and whether or not there was actual rotation or if it was just straight line wind damage," said Andy Firth, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

Firth says New Brunswick experiences an average of one to two tornadoes per year.

Interact with The Globe