Experts will be inspecting damage in a rural area after a tornado ripped through the town northwest of Toronto on Tuesday afternoon.

Trees were snapped in half and hydro polls were pulled onto the streets of New Tecumseth in a storm that one resident told CTV Toronto was "like a scene in the 'Wizard of Oz.'"

Resident Teresa Greco said she saw the storm coming from across a farmer's field, and saw pieces of metal roofing caught in the funnel cloud flying through the air.

Greco said she saw the tornado while driving, and managed to outrun it by reversing her vehicle.

The tornado, which touched down at around 4:30 p.m., ripped the roof off one home, causing part of the second-storey floor to cave in. At another house, Ontario Provincial Police said the back wall of a garage was torn off.

There are no reports of people being injured in the area 90 kilometres northwest of Toronto, but a horse was killed and others had to be treated by a vet.

Shortly after the storm touched down, Environment Canada officially confirmed the damage was caused by a tornado.

Based on preliminary knowledge of the storm, the weather agency rated the storm at EF-1, meaning winds reached speeds of between 135 and 175 km/h. The EF scale runs from 0 to 5.

Experts will visit the tornado's 10-kilometre path on Wednesday to inspect the damage and adjust the tornado's rating if necessary.

The tornado came just a week after an EF-2 tornado damaged 101 homes in the nearby town of Angus, Ont., about 20 kilometres northeast of New Tecumseth.

Environment Canada is also checking reports that another tornado struck Hawkesbury, Ont. on Tuesday night, about 100 kilometres east of Ottawa on the Quebec border.