'My family is going to die here': Gatineau father recalls tornado terror

As atornado shredded his Gatineau, Que., apartment Friday afternoon, James Widdergripped hisfour-year-old daughter by herfingertips, terrified the small child would be torn from his grasp.

"When [the tornado] ripped our roof, my daughter went flying off.I was holding her hand in the air and I almost let go. She was slipping," he said that afternoon, not long after an EF3 tornado with winds thatmay have peaked at 265 km/htore across the Ottawa River from Dunrobin, where it had flattened houses and injured at least four.

"I said, 'If she's going to die, I'm going to die with her.' Then [the tornado] finally passed."

'We're going to die together'

6 years ago

Duration 0:43

James Widdner returns to his block for the first time since Friday's tornado.

On Sunday, he returned for the first time to the scene on rue Georges-Bilodeau in the city's Mont-Bleu neighbourhood with the CBC's Rosemary Barton.

Widder said he'd beentalking to his mother on the phone when he saw the storm approach. He paused to take a few pictures to send to her.

"As Iwas sending it to her my daughter came banging on the door, saying, 'Daddy, it looks like a tornado is coming!' And I said, 'No, there's no tornado,'" Widder recalled.

"I hit send,the next thing I know [there was a] wind gust, rain startedall of a sudden it all came spiralling down."

Spyinghis bed and dresser through a missing wall on Sunday brought back the terror.

"It all happened so fast, but when you're actually in it, it felt like forever," he said.

"I just thought to myself, this is it. My family is going to die here. We're going to die together."

Widdersaid hedoesn't know if or when his familywill beable to recover their belongings from the heavily damaged unit.

He said his youngest daughter is having trouble sleeping, but he feels lucky they're all alive.

"The fact we all survived is a total miracle."