Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens has provided his take after a local Member of Parliament took issue with a lack of a local weather radar facility.
Essex MP Chris Lewis wrote a letter this week to the Ministry of the Environment, demanding a review of the current severe weather notification system.
Lewis said that despite Windsor-Essex's long history of tornadoes and turbulent weather, the nearest Canadian weather radar system is in Exeter, 200 kilometres away.
While acknowledging that weather radar facilities are a federal government responsibility, Dilkens told reporters Wednesday at Gateway Park that it did not change the fact that a reliable system must be located locally.
"I think that it's really important that residents have up-to-date, timely information when it comes to severe weather events," said Dilkens. "I go back to the tornado that happened many years ago in the city of Windsor when the alert came about ten minutes after the tornado had done its damage. So that lack of information isn't helpful to anyone."
Dilkens added that Lewis' complaints are valid, given the region's geography and the fact that, in some cases, Windsor-Essex residents are forced to rely on alerts from the U.S. National Weather Service.
"I certainly take Chris Lewis' point that we have Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River; it brings about a different weather dynamic here because of the Great Lakes and the water systems that we have, so I think it's really important that residents have access to timely information they can rely on," said Dilkens.
In his letter, Lewis provided examples of recent severe weather, most notably a severe storm that damaged the Essex Fun Fest on July 3. Four people were hurt and wind gusts of up to 129 kilometres per hour caused hydro outages and fallen trees.
