STORMY HORIZON
A supercell storm approaches near Estevan on Thursday. The system brought baseball-sized hail, rain and high winds to parts of southeast Saskatchewan.
Mother Nature did its best to ruin a family wedding — but a community rallied to save the special day.
A supercell storm system that worked its way through Estevan and area on Thursday afternoon devastated homes, crops, vehicles, businesses and yards, with reports of hail as large as tennis balls and baseballs in some places.
The Johnsons had spent hundreds of hours preparing their yard, near the Boundary Dam reservoir, for an upcoming family wedding.
“All the perennials, they are just shredded. The trees, a lot of the leaves are off. We’ve got fence damage, siding, stucco,” said Angie Johnson, whose daughter Taylor is getting married July 1 in the yard.
Golf-ball-sized hail wedged itself into stucco. Tree branches, water and backyard furniture littered the property.
The damage left Angie thinking, “What are we going to do now?”
Recognizing a massive cleanup effort would be needed, Taylor’s sister Brady reached out to the community on her company’s — Encompass Fitness Studio — social media asking for help. Roughly 20 people heeded the call.
“It was amazing, I would turn around and more people would show up,” Angie said, adding there were some people she didn’t even know coming.
Over the course of Thursday night, the Johnson’s yard was cleaned up.
“To have so many people come, there was no power anywhere and people were bringing food they had barbecued, people brought anything they could and showed
What would have taken our family at least seven days, we were able to get done in four hours, which is incredible.
up with rakes,” said Brady.
“What would have taken our family at least seven days, we were able to get done in four hours, which is incredible,” said Angie.
“The wedding will go on as planned, the ceremony and the commitment is really what it’s all about,” she added.
Brady thanked the community in a social media post, writing, “Words can’t express the gratitude from the bottom of my heart. Your kindness truly means so much to me, and my family. To see a group of people come together for a common purpose, for no reason other than community, is truly heart warming. This is what life is about. I am so blessed.”
The storm, which Angie says was the most devastating for their property in the 27 years the’ve lived there, was a massive supercell system that prompted Environment Canada to issue severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings.
Sylvia MacBean got caught in hail and high winds near the outskirts of Estevan as she headed toward Bienfait. Her 2003 Lincoln Town Car was “totally hammered,” she recalled Friday, describing broken tail lights, smashed side mirrors, a torn off wiper blade, and plenty of dents. While others in the area reported smashed windshields, MacBean’s is still intact — but her nerves weren’t.
“I was just terrified,” she said. While MacBean saw what she believed was a tornado, Environment Canada said there was no confirmed tornado but the storm was moving in a circular motion.
“This kind of storm is actually more damaging, just because it does so much damage over a wide area,” Terri Lang, a warning preparedness meteorologist, said, noting how the storm moved up from North Dakota and into Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Estevan photographer Byron Fichter was southeast of the city with his camera in hopes of snapping some good photos when the storm hit.
“Instantly, it hit and it was a complete, absolute complete whiteout. I couldn’t even see the front of my truck just with how hard it was hailing out,” he said.
Golf ball-sized hail rained down for about 15 minutes. “My truck is probably pretty much destroyed. All the mirrors are smashed out, the windshield’s all cracked,” he said. “The whole thing looks like a golf ball, it’s all dented out.”
Fichter said the Estevan Motor Speedway, where he’s on the board of directors, was also damaged, with some windows smashed and signs brought down.
At Gaylene Wyatt’s house, on a farm 15 minutes southeast of Estevan, quarter- to golf ball-sized hail pummelled and smashed the vinyl siding.
“It shredded most of the trees, my garden is gone, my flowers are gone,” added Wyatt, who remained cheerful despite the damage.
“It’s all replaceable,” she said. “It’s stuff right; no one was hurt.”
Jeff Ward, Estevan’s city manager, said the city itself actually made out “fairly well.”
“There was some flash flooding, but within 10 minutes most of it had drained. But there was some significant damage south of town in our regional park area and out through Bienfait and Roche Percee.”
He saw the storm brewing in the distance around 3 p.m. By 3:50, the tornado watch was changed to a tornado warning. The next halfhour brought pounding rain and strong wind. Ward believed the bulk of the city escaped the hail.
Residents did see power outages of between six and eight hours Thursday afternoon and evening though, he said.