Two tornadoes touch down in Quebec, causing more than $1 million in damage

Environment Canada has confirmed that a “very rare” F1 tornado packing speeds of 150 km-h tore through St.-Benoit-de-Mirabel on May 28, destroying a 200-year-old historical church and causing more then $1 million in damage.

Environment Canada noted this is the second tornado in fewer than two years to have hit the St.-Benoit-de-Mirabel, a town located about 50 km north of Montreal.

“The probabilities that a tornado hits the same area twice are very rare,” Rene Leroux of Environment Canada told the Toronto Sun. “It’s a fraction of 1% chance.”

The federal department also confirmed an F0 tornado carrying wind speeds of as much as 120 km-h hit Brownsburg-Chatham, Quebec on May 28. Brownsburg-Chatham is about 35 km away from St.-Benoit-de-Mirabel. The two tornadoes hit within 15 minutes of one another.

At the height of the storm, about 30,000 Hydro-Québec customers in the Mirabel area were without power.

The tornadoes were the first of the season to hit Quebec, which typically sees about six tornadoes annually, the CBC reported.