A resident of British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast said a rare tornado she saw land Monday looked like a movie scene with trees falling “like dominoes” in high winds.

Western University’s Northern Tornadoes Project, which tracks storms across Canada, has confirmed that what Lynn Smith filmed during the windstorms that hit much of coastal British Columbia was a tornado , with winds blowing at 115 km/h.

Smith says she turned the camera on hoping to send a tongue-in-cheek clip to a relative about the “beautiful day” outside Sechelt, where she regularly visits from her home in Halfmoon Bay.

Smith says stormy weather in the area is not unusual, but when she saw a “large, healthy” tree fall, she knew something was wrong.

Footage Smith captured from her car shows winds kicking up forest debris as a tree falls onto the road and she gasps in disbelief.

Smith said she feared someone might be hurt and called 911 when she turned around, flashing her lights at oncoming vehicles to warn them of the downed trees.

Northern Tornadoes Project Executive Director David Sills said the team is still waiting for satellite imagery data on the tornado event.

The Sechelt tornado is only the second recorded by the project in British Columbia this year, following one that occurred over Mabel Lake in the British Columbia Interior in August.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published November 7, 2024.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press