Severe thunderstorms Wednesday evening and Thursday morning caused serious problems across the region.
In Oak River, about 66 kilometres northwest of Brandon, Ian Johnson says a tornado touched down Wednesday just before 7:00 pm.
“It flattened some sheds, tore roofs off houses, smashed windows and smashed tail-lights out of vehicles,” says Johnson. “There’s a few vehicles they figure will be written off due to the dsmage on them. It also blew a tree over onto a power line, and the power line hit a guy’s house and caught it on fire.”
He says about 20 homes may have been damaged, but it appears no-one was hurt.
Environment Canada issued a tornado warning for the area at around 6:20 Wednesday evening, but they have not confirmed yet if one touched down. Johnson said it was definitely a tornado with golf-ball sized hail – and high winds.
“I had a bunch of roofing metal and a stack in my yard ready to put on my house, well…it’s all over the place now – it’s all over town,” says Johnson.
He says the small community is now pulling together to deal with the clean-up.
Eric Todd Maclean, who farms in the Oak River area, posted on Twitter that he lost about 2,000 acres to the storm.
(Image – damaged crops – Eric Todd Maclean – Twitter)
In Brandon, some streets were flooded Thursday morning, while just outside the city in Kemnay, the underpass was full of water trapping a vehicle.
