(Photo courtesy Kathy Campbell)
Environment Canada suspects a tornado may have touched down in the Ear Falls area that has left two American men dead, five people injured and another guest at an area tourist camp.
Several buildings at Fisherman's Cove, 15 kilometres were destroyed by a storm that passed through the area last night.
Meteorologist Geoff Coulson says indications of a tornado are only preliminary.
"We are treating it as a possible tornado at this point," says Coulson, "and we have sent one of our Environment Canada staff from the Thunder Bay to do a survey of the area, talk with eye witnesses and walk the path of damage to get a better sense of what hit the area."
Bill Laidlaw of Signal Weather Services says video and photographs he's seen coming from people living in the area point to a tornado. He says a cold front was rotating in front of low weather system was passing through the area at the time.
"On the cold front there was some very active thunderstorms," says Laidlaw, "and the closer they got to the low the more active they were. All thunderstroms have a lot of potential energy in them and if all of the ingredients come together, they can do some very nasty damage.
As of the noon hour Friday, police were still searching for one guest who was unaccounted for.
The OPP's emergency response team and marine unit, along with a Ministry of Natural Resources helicopter were involved.
Both of the dead and the missing man, were from Oklahoma.
Their names have not been released pending notification of next of kin.
To view video of the suspected tornado, go to the home page of www.b93.ca and click the What's New" button.
