HomeMy WebLinkAboutGoderich Signal Star, 2011-08-24, Page 24Wednesday. August 24, 2011 • Signal -Star 23
rings everyone is sure of in
n Goderich - it sounded
in and It happened fast,
es after a deadly tornado
ed downtown Goderich,
td firefighters were getting
k onlookers off the street,
earnings fall on deaf ears as
came out to survey the dam -
the tornado that claimed
and injured several other
Officials on loudspeakers
of gas leaks and ordered
people to evacuatethe area.
The smell of gas was in the ail.
The approach to Courthouse
Square showed a barren Courthouse
Park; nearly every tree was down,
bare trunks splintered and sagging.
An upturned food wagon sat
empty as people scoured the park for
anyone who could be injured.
Inside the local Coffee Culture,
people stood far away from the win-
dows, as furniture, floor tiles and
windows_ were blown away.
"It sounded like a freight train," Jim
Rutledge said. "It couldn't have been
more than 30 seconds."
Gary Johnston and his family took
shelter in the Bargain Store one block
away,
"I couldn't close the door" he said
in disbelief. "Not with all my
strength."
The windows of the store, and so
many others, are simply gone.
"That woman over there," some-
body says pointing to an emergency
vehicle in the middle of the street.
"Got a two-by-four in the chest:'.
Nobody knew if she was OK.
Kris Reilly was at the KFC on
Huron Rd. near the entrance to
downtown when the tornado hit.
1 saw the dark skies and got.a real
bad feeling," he said. "Everyone in
the store got to the back."
When he came out, it was a differ-
ent town.
"The roof of the church is f---ing
gone ... The trees are f ---king gone!"
People congregated outside what
remained of the Burger Bar, the roof
and walls of neighbouring apart-
ments
part-
m ents had collapsed.
Brent Lawrence was in one of
those apartments.
"The windows blew in, he said.
"And then the building fell on my
car."
It took him 15 minutes to get out
of the two-storey building.
Down the street, firefighters
checked homes for injured. Power
lines were strewn across most arte-
rial roads downtown.
Upper floors around the Square
are open wide, facades are crum-
bled. Most shops on _the southeast
side of downtown are windowless,
Alex Mosher was driving down-
town when the storm spun his car
out of control and into a light pole.
"The car was totalled," he said. He
got away with only a few minor
scrapes:
gushes from the Sifto Evaporator Plant on Maitland Road. Most of the plant was destroyed.
The upper floor of Coffee Culture is torn apart.