Extreme weather slammed parts of Saskatchewan on Tuesday night, leaving a wake of destruction in its path.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has confirmed that a tornado touched down. Tornado activity was spotted near the communities of North Portal and Alameda, Sask., which are in the very southeastern part of the province, close to the U.S. border.
The “strong tornado” was on the ground for about 20 minutes, said Dan Fulton, a meteorologist with ECCC.
“The atmosphere was really primed for severe convection yesterday.”
Dozens of pictures and video on social media appear to show extensive damage from the tornado.
It took five minutes for a massive funnel cloud to form near Laney Loppe’s house in Oxbow, Sask., about 254 kilometres from Regina.
She was eating supper with her family when things suddenly started to get dark.
Tornado slams parts of southern Saskatchewan
Loppe spotted a shelf-shaped cloud starting to form around 6:45 p.m. CST. Minutes later, it formed into a cone that kept getting “bigger and bigger,” she said.
The family quickly gathered candles and sought shelter in the basement.
Loppe said she and her husband would periodically check outside to see if the tornado was getting any closer.
“I’ve never seen one that up close, and then stressed-out enough that it was coming directly for us,” she said.
Loppe feared the tornado would make a path from the valley and cut across the highway, taking out everything in its path.
“I hope it doesn’t kill us. If it takes the house, it takes the house. But I hope it doesn’t kill us,” she remembered thinking.
Her family waited out the storm in the basement for nearly an hour. Their home did not sustain any damage.
Craig Boehm, a storm chaser and photographer, left Regina to catch video of the system.
“Just when it came across into Canada, it really, really ramped up,” he said.
Boehm said the tornado touched down at about 8:08 p.m. CST.
“It was on the ground for about 26 minutes. That’s a fairly long time for a tornado,” he said.
“Just being that close to nature, just knowing the power, it was pretty surreal. “
Meanwhile, other areas of the province were pounded with heavy hail and rain Tuesday evening.
“Regina was the place that got the worst in Saskatchewan,” Fulton said.
“We got reports of golf ball-sized hail there in Regina, as well as some localized flooding in the city, and also in Weyburn, and Indian Head got about 30 milimetres of rain.”
According to ECCC, Estevan and Yorkton faced winds gusting up to 85 km/h.
Across the border into Manitoba, there were reports of hail the size of tennis balls and winds reaching 130 km/h.
“When it started to move further east into Manitoba, the tornado threat diminished significantly,” said Boehm. “It started to congeal into a line. That line of storms though can be just as damaging.”
Southern Manitoba saw monsoon-like downpours, at least one tornado and vehicles abandoned on flooded roads.
Stonewall, just north of Winnipeg, saw about 250 millimetres, ECCC said.
Southern Manitoba drenched in wild night of stormy weather, possible tornadoes
