Storm knocks over tree, crushes Scarborough resident's cherished Camaro

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Scarborough resident Khushbir Singh realized his “worst nightmare” when this week’s thunderstorm upended a tree that smashed his charished red Camaro.

“It is a 2013. But it’s condition is amazing. It’s pretty old,” said Singh. “But it was a piece of cake to me.”

“I was looking for this car for so long. It’s the worst nightmare for me.”

The powerful storm Tuesday evening toppled trees and power lines in Ontario. There were still 30,000 customers across the province, including in parts of Toronto, without power on Wednesday afternoon, according to utilities.

Among the damage were Singh’s Camaro — similar to “Bumblee” in the popular Transformers movie — and a KIA van which were crushed by the same upended tree on Miramar Cres., southeast of Brimley Rd. and Lawrence Ave.

Singh who rents the basement of home on Miramar Cres. didn’t initially know what had happened to his vehicle.

“Somebody from upstairs came downstairs and said, ‘Khush, just look at that,’” said Singh.

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After he came out from the basement, he saw his beloved car — purchased more than a year ago — under a tree with its back end crushed.

Asked if he knew the owner of the damaged KIA van, Singh said it belonged to an appliance repair technician who had come from Newmarket to fix his dryer.

The back end of the minivan was crushed in by the weight of the tree and a broken limb smashed through the windshield into the vehicle’s console.

Yellow caution tape and red Toronto Fire tape were wrapped around the tree and vehicles.

Ernie, who lives across the street, said he went to his basement on Tuesday after 5 p.m. when dark skies rolled in, rained poured down and winds picked up.

When he returned upstairs, Ernie said he couldn’t believe the damage outside.

A check on the Toronto Hydro outages map on the utility’s website around dinner time on Wednesday  showed there were still hundreds of customers, including 160 in the Ellesmere-Birchmount Rds. area and 170 in the Avenue Rd.-Eglinton Ave. area, without power.

Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath was also toppled by the storm on the stairs outside city hall and sustained a broken wrist, a fractured elbow fracture and leg injury, according to her  X account.

Tuesday’s storm arrived about a month after a severe ice storm swept across parts of Ontario and Quebec leaving thousands in the dark and without power for several days, and upwards of a week, in Ontario’s cottage country and rural regions.

Initial estimates show the ice storm caused $342 million in insured damage, the Insurance Bureau of Canada said in a news release Wednesday.

— With files from CP