May 2022 Canadian derecho
| Date(s) | May 21, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Duration | 9 hours |
| Track length | 620 mi (998 km) |
| Peak wind gust (measured) | 91.3 mph (147 km/h; 40.8 m/s) (Kitchener, Ontario, Canada) |
| Peak wind gust (est.) | 118 mph (190 km/h; 52.8 m/s) (Ottawa, Canada) |
| Tornado count | 4 |
| Strongest tornado1 | CEF2 tornado |
| Fatalities | 16 |
| Damage costs | C$ 875 million ($780 million USD) |
| Types of damage | Widespread damage to residential and commercial property and public utility infrastructure |
| Areas affected | Southern Ontario, southern Quebec |
| 1Most severe tornado damage; see Enhanced Fujita scale | |
The May 2022 Canadian derecho was a high-impact derecho event that affected the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor, Canada's most densely populated region, on May 21, 2022. Described by meteorologists as a historic derecho and one of the most impactful thunderstorms in Canadian history, winds up to 190 km/h (120 mph) as well as around four tornadoes caused widespread and extensive damage along a path that extended for 1,000 kilometres (620 mi).
Three cities across southern Ontario declared a state of emergency. At least twelve people were killed, mostly by falling trees. Power outages affected an estimated 1.1 million customers, and thousands were still without power a week after the storm. Hydro Ottawa described the damage dealt to its power distribution system as more severe than the 1998 ice storm. The storm was the sixth-costliest event in Canadian history.
According to an estimate published on June 15 by the firm Catastrophe Indices and Quantification (CatIQ), the insured damage would amount to C$875 million, that is, C$720 million in Ontario and C$155 million in Quebec. This ranks the derecho as the sixth-costliest natural disaster in Canada in terms of insurance claims.