It was storm to remember, but one many would prefer to forget.
On Friday, people in southwestern Manitoba spent much of their day cleaning up after hail, rain and strong winds blew through that area of the province Thursday night.
Environment and Climate Change Canada confirmed a tornado touched down for a few seconds southwest of Waskada around 7:25 pm Thursday.
South of Margaret, Lyle Laird’s repair shop is in pieces. The tin roof is collapsed and the siding is torn up. Strong winds carried some of his shop’s siding across the road and scattered it in a field few hundred meters away.
Laird believes it was the work of a tornado but a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada said it was likely strong side winds, which can sometimes be as damaging as a tornado.
“Tools everywhere. Inventory spread, lost. There’s equipment that’s gotta be repaired now because of damage to the building falling on it,” Laird said.
Nearby in Ninette, softball size hail smashed several car windows and ruined campers.
Cindy Kempthorne, the manager of Happyland Campground, witnessed large hail fall.
“Probably golf ball sized the first ones that we saw and they got bigger and bigger. Going onto almost baseball size. Tennis ball for sure,” Kempthorne said.
Anything in the open was vulnerable. That meant Leanne Elder’s car was also a target. Hail smashed through her car windows, severely damaging it.
“It almost sounded like a sledgehammer,” Elder said. She heard the sound from inside her camper at Happyland Campground.
“Was just thinking I think I’m done camping and happy land is not a happy land right now.”
Hydro crews acted quickly to repair what they could.
Lyle laird’s power in his house is restored. His shop is far from normal.
“It’s a building. Nobody got hurt. You can always repair that.
You can’t always repair a life,” Laird said.
