Powerful Sept. 2 storm leaves trail of damage county wide

A menacing shelf cloud moves over the Grand River in Paris shortly before powerful winds and heavy rain swept through the community, leaving behind widespread damage and power outages.

Casandra Turnbull

Managing Editor

A powerful storm tore through the County of Brant on Wednesday evening, leaving thousands without power, damaging electrical infrastructure, toppling trees and forcing the cancellation of opening night at the Paris Fair.

Strong winds, heavy rain and flooding swept through the region on Sept. 2, causing widespread damage across Brantford and Brant County.

At the height of the storm, more than 33,000 GrandBridge Energy customers across its service territory were without power. GrandBridge Energy services a majority of Paris and Brant County. Hydro One services the remaining residents (in newer subdivisions in North Paris, as well as half of Burford, Scotland and rural Brant County areas).

GrandBridge Energy reported that Brantford and the County of Brant sustained the most significant impact, with approximately 20,000 customers affected throughout the event. Another 13,000 customers were impacted in Cambridge and North Dumfries (Ayr).

Crews worked through the night and into the following day repairing broken utility poles, downed powerlines and other electrical equipment damaged by falling trees and branches.

Within 24 hours of the storm, GrandBridge Energy reported fewer than 300 customers remained without power. Many of those were isolated cases where repairs to privately owned equipment were required before service could be restored.

“We thank our customers for their patience and understanding during the outages caused by last night’s storm. Our crews worked throughout the night to safely restore power as quickly as possible. We greatly appreciate the community’s support during the response,” said Greg Davidson, Vice President of Operations for GrandBridge Energy.

GrandBridge Energy said its Customer Service team and System Control operators worked closely with field crews to triage incidents as they were reported, prioritizing emergencies and significant public safety hazards, including calls from first responders.

The storm also created challenges for customers looking for information about restoration efforts.

GrandBridge Energy acknowledged its online outage map was not functioning properly during the storm and apologized for the inconvenience. The utility said it recognizes the importance of providing timely and accurate information during outages and understands the frustration caused when that information is unavailable. It is working with its service provider to resolve the issue.

The extent of the damage was also evident at the Paris Fairgrounds, where organizers were preparing to kick off the 168th annual Paris Fair Wednesday evening.

The midway was scheduled to open at 6 p.m. for free admission and toonie night when a fast-moving shelf cloud swept through town, bringing approximately 20 minutes of destructive rain and winds.

The aftermath forced organizers to cancel the fair's first night.

Tents were blown over and the midway sustained significant damage. The fun house toppled during the storm and was later removed because of the damage.

Campbell Amusements workers and Paris Agricultural Society volunteers spent the following hours cleaning up the grounds and preparing the fair to open as planned on Sept. 3.

In an email update, Paris Agricultural Society General Manager Amy Warner said the organization was grateful no one was hurt.

“We’re incredibly grateful that everyone is safe. After a night like this, it’s the people who remind us what the Paris Fair is really about: community, resilience, kindness and coming together. A huge thank you to our incredible members, volunteers, exhibitors and Campbell Amusements for your patience, compassion and determination tonight. We have seen people clean up, help one another and keep moving forward, and we couldn’t be more grateful.”

Beyond the fairgrounds, the County of Brant reported significant storm damage, particularly across the northern half of the municipality.

In a social media post, county officials said significant damage, including downed trees and power lines, was concentrated in the northern half of the County. County crews are patrolling roads and clearing storm debris from roadways and shoulders. Cleanup efforts are expected to continue well into next week.”

Several downed trees were also reported in County parks. Staff said trails were inspected as resources and time permit.

Last week’s major storm comes exactly two months after another destructive storm blew through the region on July 1.