Several people were injured and many more displaced Thursday after a tornado ripped through part of a city in the south of the Canadian province of Ontario, its mayor said as he expressed relief that no lives had been lost in the destruction.
Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman said that while the tornado that hit a neighborhood in the city’s south end caused extensive property damage, as of Thursday evening, no deaths were reported and no one appeared to be unaccounted for.
''I can’t tell you how incredible it is that nobody has been killed, and I hope that as all the secondary searches are completed and the patients are treated in the hospital, that that continues to be the case,'' he said.
Paramedics said eight people were taken to hospital, including four who suffered serious injuries. Seven of those hospitalized were being treated for trauma and one for a medical condition, they said.
Others who suffered more minor injuries were treated at the scene, said Andrew Robert, the chief of paramedic services.