Powerful Sask. storm winds rip barn off foundation, destroy grain bins
A farmer near the village of Goodsoil says wind storms that tore through northwestern Saskatchewan on Monday nearly sucked his 80-year-old father out of the house.
Mark Weber said he was in Meadow Lake when he got a call about the storm and headed home.
“When we got closer to our farms there, we could see that there was a lot of debris thrown on the road. There's some plastic in the ditches. As we got closer we could see more and more trees had fallen on the road,” Mark Weber told CTV News.
“A lot of the trees that were my grandparents, trees that they planted and you can see the roots were torn right out and a lot of trees were twisted up and broken in half, like halfway up the tree. And it was there was a lot of damage to the yard. The shingles were off the house,” Weber said.
He said they had lost a few grain bins.
“We lost our barn that our grandfather had built years ago. It actually looks like it picked the barn up and moved it directly back about eight feet off the foundation and the corrals were completely demolished.”
It’s not clear if a tornado touched down in the area, but Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is investigating.
“We had no indication based on radar or eyewitness reports or anything like that of a tornado in the area. So at this point in time, we can't confirm or deny that a tornado has occurred. The investigation is ongoing,” ECCC meteorologist Sara Hoffman told CTV News.
Reports and photos have been circulating on social media showing some of the building damage in Peerless, near Goodsoil.
Weber said his 80-year-old father was home when the storm hit.
“He went to go out to move his vehicle and when he opened the door, the door was gone. (It) immediately tried to suck him out of the house. He managed to stay in the doorway,” Weber said.
“He laid down on the floor of the house. And he crawled back into the house as much as he could. He's not able to move very well and he had to lay on the floor there for a good 15 minutes while it was raining and the wind was blowing. He said that it was like somebody started up a jet engine in his house.”
Weber said his father was doing a little better, but was shaken by the experience.
“He's having a bit of a hard time with it. It was very, very scary for him. I'm sure he was the only one home so it was not a good situation.”
He said that he was also upset by the damage caused by the storm.
“To come home to something like that and see your grandparents' work, your father's work and some of your work just completely destroyed in a matter of minutes, it can be overwhelming.”
Hoffman cautioned identifying the storm as a tornado.
“It's not just tornadoes that can cause damage like that, plow winds or straight-line wind events can often cause damage that looks pretty similar,” Hoffman said. “So that might fit this case a little bit better than a tornado would.”
Hoffman said conditions in the area were ripe for severe weather.
“We had a tornado watch in effect yesterday and certainly the conditions were there for significant and severe thunderstorms and we did have large hail reported just south of the area yesterday as well.”
Hoffman said some of the reports from Monday include severe hail in the Meadow Lake region, heavy rain near Prince Albert and large hail around Lloydminster.
“It was a very active day, but no tornadoes officially on the books, at least at this point in time.”
Parts of the province may see more wild weather today, according to ECCC.
“There is both a heat warning and a severe thunderstorm watch in effect for a large swath of Saskatchewan,” Hoffman said.
“It's now mostly through central Saskatchewan central and kind of northern grain belt region.”
ECCC said that conditions could result in severe thunderstorms with strong wind gusts, large hail and heavy rain.
With files from Tyler Barrow
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Man who set himself on fire outside Trump trial dies of injuries, police say
A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former U.S. President Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said.
Verdun Airbnb listing taken down amid complaints, fines and frustration from neighbours
An Airbnb in Montreal's Verdun borough was the source of much frustration from neighbours who say there were constant parties at the location. It has been taken down from the app, but housing advocates remain upset about short-term rentals.
They were from different countries and barely spoke each other's languages. More than 20 years later, they're still happily in love
He decided to spend Christmas somewhere that wouldn't involve snowstorm disasters. She was spending the holidays with family, travelling for the first time outside of her native country of Venezuela. 23 years later, they're still in love.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
Fire in Labrador town under control, officials tells residents to stay away
RCMP say the fire that prompted a state of emergency in a Labrador town is now under control.
12 students and teacher killed in Columbine school shooting remembered at 25th anniversary vigil
Thirteen victims of the Columbine High School shooting were remembered during a vigil Friday on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the shooting that was the worst the nation had seen at the time.
Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza city of Rafah kills at least 9 Palestinians, including 6 children
An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza's southernmost city killed at least nine people, six of them children, hospital authorities said Saturday, as Israel pursued its nearly seven-month offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
Iraq investigates a blast at a base of Iran-allied militias that killed 1. U.S. denies involvement
Iraqi authorities said Saturday that they were investigating an explosion that struck a base belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of Iran-allied militias, killing one person and injuring eight.