Suspected Tornado in Midland, Ontario

Still images sent from the scene show a toppled trailer and downed lines across the roads. There were also reports of gas leaks.

James Downer, the town's mayor, declared a state of emergency at 7:33 p.m., not long after he said he saw funnel clouds swirling above his own house.

"The winds were extensive and they caused a great deal of damage," he told CP24. "One half of my town is functioning as normal, the other half is quite chaotic."

The municipality's southwest portion was hit hardest, Downer said.

"We have factories with roofs torn off. We have gaping holes in a lot of our industrial buildings. It's just a mess."

The weather system has since moved east. After midnight, a tornado watch was in effect for Peterborough and the Kawartha Lakes, Environment Canada said. A tornado watch was also in effect from Tweed, south to Prince Edward County and east to Kingston.

"Radar is detecting a severe rotating storm possibly producing a tornado northwest of Lindsay," it says.

"This is a warning that severe thunderstorms with tornadoes are imminent or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions. Take immediate safety precautions."

Another severe weather system is moving north from the U.S., and Environment Canada has issued a tornado watch for Windsor, Leamington, and Essex County -- it was downgraded from a warning at midnight. Chatham-Kent and Rondeau Park are also under a tornado watch.

In Midland, which sits on the southern shore of Georgian Bay about 150 kilometres north of Toronto, resident Jaz Patel told CTV News Channel that he looked up and saw "debris flying over our building, two-by-fours and all that, just funneling around."