Philip Alves

The York Catholic school board has announced its plans for students of the tornado-damaged St. Peter Catholic Elementary School. Repairs are underway but the Woodbridge school won’t be ready when the first bell rings Sept. 8.

The lives of many Vaughanians — human and animal — were changed forever by last week’s tornado. The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was on scene the morning after the storm to help care for pets evacuated from their damaged homes.

Students at St. Peter Catholic Elementary School and their parents face a change in their back-to-school routine come Sept. 8. The Woodbridge school was in the path of the tornado that ripped through the city last week and will not be ready in time for the start of the academic year, the York Catholic District School Board announced Thursday.

What began as a story about the awesome and indiscriminate power of nature quickly became a story of neighbour helping neighbour. Last Thursday, sometime before the supper hour, a ferocious F2 tornado packing a minimum punch of 180 kilometres an hour skipped across Vaughan, tearing roofs from houses, uprooting trees and scarring the communities of Woodbridge and Maple.

It’s a miracle Vaughan escaped without the loss of a single life or any serious injuries, Mayor Linda Jackson says. Four areas of the city were hit hard by wicked weather, which spawned tornadoes, that tore through yesterday evening: Martin Grove Rd. and Andrew Park, Moonstone Pl. and Houston Rd. and Islington Ave. and Gamble St. in Woodbridge, and in the area of Melville Ave. and Haymer Dr. in Maple.

Residents in Maple and Woodbridge are cleaning up after a severe storm last night that led the city to declare a state of emergency. A number of apparent tornadoes were reported in the Martin Grove Rd. and Hwy. 7 and Jane St. and Major Mackenzie Dr. areas of Vaughan.