Carlita Melo says she has been picking off shards of glass for two weeks since a storm swept across southwestern Ontario.

The August 5 downburst occurred around 1:15 p.m. ET in the Chatham-Kent region of New Scotland – near Rondeau Provincial Park.

According to Western University’s Northern Tornadoes Project, investigators determined that the downburst’s damage path extended over an area 0.4 miles (0.6 kilometers) long and 2.4 miles (3.9 kilometers) wide, with estimated sustained winds of 78 miles per hour (125 km/h). Damage to trees and roofs was reported in several locations.

Melo and her boyfriend Henry Boswell were riding in an ATV with a roof and windshields. The couple lives in the small rural community of Shrewsbury. They make their living selling and logging wood and use the all-terrain vehicle to transport their products.

Then the weather changed and the wind picked up.

“It was sunny before we got to the road, and suddenly it got so foggy… it looked kind of ugly,” Melo said.

Then it started to rain and at that moment the branch of a large maple tree crashed onto their vehicle.

“It kind of crushed us. It was just a very scary moment. We saw our lives unfold before our eyes.”

A look inside the farm vehicle that was struck by a large tree branch during a downburst on August 5 in Chatham-Kent near Rondeau Provincial Park. (Carlita Melo/Facebook)

According to Boswell, the agricultural vehicle they were traveling in had a diesel engine.

“Thank God our car had a very sturdy cabin. If it had been a regular side-by-side … people probably would have been seriously injured.”

Boswell says they didn’t hear anything before the branch fell.

“They just kept driving and it just ran over us. It was horrible.”

A tree in Chatham-Kent where a large branch fell on an all-terrain vehicle carrying people during a downburst on August 5, 2024. (Carlita Melo/Facebook)

The couple crawled out of the rear window of the SUV – and suffered cuts because the windshield around the vehicle was broken.

“We had to get out in case the tree or the rest of the tree fell on us,” Melo said.

“I’m glad I’m still alive,” Boswell added. “When I walk past that tree (now), I don’t have a good feeling.”

Melo says she is just happy to be here today.

“It’s like a mind game. The emotions, the stuff that goes through our heads. It’s not good.”

An ATV in Chatham-Kent, Ontario, before it was struck by a tree branch during a major storm in early August. (Carlita Melo/Facebook)