The shocking collapse of a concert stage at Ottawa's Bluesfest remains under investigation by authorities, while one climatologist warns that Canadians will likely see more of the type of extreme weather that struck the festival.
Investigators are carefully sifting through the collapsed Bluesfest stage as they try to determine why it tumbled to the ground on Sunday night.
Thousands of people were watching the band Cheap Trick perform at the festival when a storm roared over the LeBreton Flats Park where Bluesfest was being held.
The sudden turn in the weather caught the crowd and the performers by surprise, along with the organizers.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson was watching the show from a nearby scaffolding tower when the storm hit.
"And all of a sudden the wind started to come in from just behind where we were seated and it started to sway," Watson told CTV's Canada AM from Ottawa on Tuesday morning.
Watson and two of his assistants exited the scaffolding and saw the stage collapse in front of them.
The Ottawa mayor said the crowd had actually begun to leave the area moments before the collapse occurred because the storm was so intense.
"People actually were rushing, but it wasn't chaotic," said Watson.
"I think they were rushing primarily because of the rain initially and then they realized the stage had fallen down."
Watson praised the response of the "extremely well-prepared" police, paramedics and firefighters who dealt with the unexpected emergency.
"We're very fortunately, obviously, that the wind came in the direction it did because it blew the stage back as opposed to blowing it on to the crowd," Watson said.
Environment Canada senior climatologist Dave Phillips says the warm nights that have occurred in recent days have left the air with less time to cool down than usual.
That causes a build up of hot air, which can act as one-half of the mixture for a perfect storm if a cold front comes in, like what happened at LeBreton Flats Park on Sunday.
"You do get the element of severe weather under something like this, when it's so hot and humid," Phillips told The Canadian Press on Monday.
Nights where the mercury stays above 20 degrees Celsius were rare events a century ago, occurring only three or four times each year.
Now they happen as often as 20 times a year, which Phillips said raises the risk of severe weather events.
"It's the fuel that drives storms," he said.
With such warmer weather becoming more common, Phillips believes that Canadians will again see the kind of extreme weather that struck the Bluesfest on the weekend.
"This is really just a dress rehearsal of what we will see more likely in future," he said.
With files from The Canadian Press
