High winds continue to batter province

Batten down the hatches!

That’s what Albertans in the southwest part of the province were forced to do Thursday when they faced wind gusts reaching a whopping 167 km/ h — the force of a Category 2 hurricane.

Environment Canada said those wind speeds were reached near the gate to Waterton Lakes National Park on Highway 6 on Thursday, but the wind warnings stretched far across southern, central and western Alberta and continued again on Friday. RCMP also issued a travel warning Thursday after numerous large vehicles were blown over by winds, including a semi which blocked Highways 2 and 22 for several hours.

Dina Kathrein, who lives with her family on a farm near Claresholm, said 450-kilogram bales of hay were rolling away from a nearby farm and her cat almost got caught up in the gale.

HAY BALES SENT ROLLING

“I woke up one morning and saw a bunch of hay bales gathered around the fence,” Kathrein said.

“I caught a hay bale rolling across the fence. It actually broke the first fence that was there and then it stopped at the second one. It could crush someone if they were standing there,” she said.

Kyle Brittain, a Calgary-based video journalist with the Weather Network, posted pictures of overturned vehicles on Twitter, saying he saw around a dozen semi-trailers tipped over in a less than 60-kilometre-long stretch between Stavely and Fort Macleod.

Currently, there are no wind warnings for Calgary, but just to the south the Okotoks-High River-Claresholm region was expecting a blustery Friday night, with gusts reaching up to 120 km/ h. The wind is expected to subside by Saturday afternoon.