1946 Windsor–Tecumseh tornado


The Windsor–Tecumseh Tornado of 1946 was the most powerful tornado to hit Windsor, Ontario, being an F4 in strength, touching down on June 17 of that year. The tornado touched down near River Rouge, Michigan, then crossed the Detroit River and made landfall in the Brighton Beach neighbourhood of Windsor. It then cut across southern Windsor and northern Sandwich West Township, Ontario, along a path in length. It also cut across Highway 3 before weakening somewhat. The storm then touched down as an F4 again at the modern-day intersection of Walker Road and Grand Marais Road, near the center of the city.

Path of destruction

The tornado took a northeastward path, cutting through farmland and forest, an area with few housing subdivisions, and narrowly missing Windsor Airport, before tearing through the northwest part of the Town of Tecumseh, Ontario and dissipating over Lake St. Clair.
The storm's path was roughly wide, and followed Turkey Creek for much of its length after crossing the Detroit River, and travelled 60 km. The storm's damage ranged from F3-F4, to some speculated F5 damage from completely destroyed houses that were lifted off their foundations.
Since the tornado had cut power to The Windsor Star's main printing offices downtown the Detroit News offered to help them print their newspapers at their printing facilities until the Star's were repaired, and even gave the Star priority so they could report the news of the tornado to the cities of Windsor, Detroit, and the rest of Ontario.
The tornado knocked out power to most of the city for about a day, and damaged or destroyed roughly 400 homes in Windsor.

Radio reports

Though Windsor had CKLW as a radio station from Detroit, Michigan, there were no records kept from them. CBC Toronto was the only radio station that has kept their archives for the reports on this event. CBC Archives helps to explain what happened in Windsor the day after on Windsor, Ont. struck by tornado in 1946. The report explains what happened, how many were killed, how citizens feel and even what was stolen and who came out to help. In addition to this report, there were many reports to explain how the tornado was formed for this tornado. The reports also hold onto interviews from people who viewed the tornado first hand.

Aftermath

After the tornado, civility and order were quickly restored by the police. Many accounts of the tornado were told over the radio, and the Ontario Provincial Government even explained the conditions that are favourable for tornado development, to alleviate the public's fears of an "epidemic of tornadoes", especially since one week later, a tornado struck the towns of Fort Frances and International Falls.
It was also just half a mile from the same spot the Windsor Tornado of 1974 touched down.