By Abigail Vint, Standard Staff and The Canadian Press

    Residents across the region were left without hydro just three weeks after people were warned about overuse because of the high temperatures, but this blackout had nothing to do with the heat.
    The major storm that swept through the region early Saturday evening left homes without power from 9 pm to as late as 7 am Sunday.  It was part of a series of severe thunderstorms that cut a swath of destruction across southern Ontario and cottage country Saturday night.
    The storm system, triggered by a cold front crossing southern Ontario, produced pea-sized hail and torrential rain in many areas.
    At one point, almost the entire southern portion of the province was under a thunderstorm watch.
    Hydro companies in St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Welland and Thorold reported lines down over all areas.
    Trees were knocked down and hydro lines damaged in the storm which lasted an hour or two in the early evening Saturday.
    Some of the hydro utilities reported power out on Sunday evening due to the large amount of cleanup needed.
    But it wasn't only power Edward Demenuk of Fonthill and his family lost Saturday night.
    His wife Monique was in the kitchen of their Turner Road home doing dishes around 8 pm when she saw something go flying over the house.
    "I thought, 'Oh no, there goes my swing set,'" she said of the two-person chair they have on their back porch.
    She and her four-year-old daughter Stephanie went down to the basement to wait out the storm, she said.
    When the rain settled down, she looked out the window to see the family's trampoline, which is normally in the back yard, more than 60 metres away from the front door.
    At the same time, her husband was driving into his family-owned gas station with seven-year-old daughter Stephanie to wait out the storm.
    "By the time I got there, (Monique) had called me and said 'the trampoline is gone,'" Semenuk said.
    He said he thought she was exaggerating the damage until he pulled up to his house to see his daughter's two toy homes, in pieces, had flown from the backyard, over the house, and finally landed in the ditch about 60 metres from their house.
    The trampoline, which they had for about three years, was wrapped around the tree.  Sunday, a small ladder, used to get up and down on the trampoline, hadn't made it over the house and was stuck to the roof.
    Sunday, Semenuk said, his daughters were already wondering when they would get it back.
    "(Sunday) when we looked outside, they said, 'are we going to get another one?'"
    Semenuk said he would find out today from his insurance company if he was covered for the damage.  His neighbours across the street ended up with a buckled pool and six fallen trees.

    Lee Etherington and Joanne Desampaio rent the house which backs onto the Semenucks.
    "It was pretty serious," said Etherington.  "Everything was just blowing so bad."
    Etherington spent part of Sunday inside the empty pool pushing one of the walls back into place.
    The strength of the wind had pushed the metal wall in towards the centre, he said.
    Through their backyard, a trail of plooded-on gass lead Etherington to believe maybe a funnel cloud had passed through.
    The couple moved to Pelham in April from St. Catharines after living in large cities such as Calgary and Toronto.
    "We moved to the country because it's safe," Desampaio laughed.
    "I guess we'll have lots of firewood."
    Environment Canada reported that two Scout leaders were stuck by lightning while at a scout camp at Balm Beach on Georgian Bay.  One of them was reported in serious condition.
    There were also several unconfirmed reports of tornadoes in Mississauga, Beeton, north of Toronto, and Barrie.
    In Newmarket, north of Toronto, a group of golfers ran for their lives when they saw a funnel cloud heading their way.
    In Chatham, a section of the civic centre roof directly above the city council chamber was lifted off and blown into the police station parking lot.  Police said there were no injuries but the council chamber was soaked with rain.
    In central Essex County in south-western Ontario, winds reached 120 kilometres per hour.
    In the Rodney area, southwest of London, residents of the Enchanted Hideaway trailer park reported that about 15 large trees were knocked flat when a funnel cloud zig-zagged through the park.