Widespread portion of southwest Saskatchewan in clean-up mode after hail, tornadoes, wind cause extensive damage
It's been a busy month for tornadoes in Saskatchewan. The province has seen 16 so far this season. The average is 18 for the entire tornado season which runs from April to September.
July 10 was particularly busy when a massive storm dropped six tornadoes in southwest south central parts of the province: One in Golden Prairie, two in the Val Marie area, two near Wood Mountain, and one near Coronach.
Jan Linthicum, who farms with her husband, Murray south of Glentworth (22 km west of Wood Mountain), said she was busy preparing for a family barbecue when the storm first hit. A lightning strike started a fire on the property, so some of the some of the family went to fight the blaze and the rest retreated into the basement for shelter.
The tornado didn't stick around long and it took a few short minutes before they were able to start assessing the damage.
"It was a significant storm and it carried a lot of our things with it, including an old barn. It was a pretty nasty tornado," said Jan.
Their RV was flipped over and debris from other equipment was scattered over 1/2 mile. Some grain bins traveled even further.
"We had three old grain bins and two of them ended up a mile away from our yard," she said.
The tornado merely clipped the Linthicum home, pulling back corners of its metal roof. Portable panels that were being used as windbreaks were also damaged, one bent into a curved shape. And, of their four large gas tanks, the storm took down three. There was also damage to their corrals.
Fortunately, nobody was injured during the storm of fighting the fire.
"We are quite thankful that everybody is safe and thankful to the neighours who have come to help us," she said.
The Village of Val Marie got walloped by baseballsized hail during the same storm that laid tornado down on the Linthicum property.
Roland Facette, Val Marie mayor said he was out chasing cattle when the wind picked up and the storm quickly rolled in with lightning sparking three fires.
"People from the RM and Grasslands National Park helped out with the fires, we all work together. The rain stopped the fires," said Facette, adding that about 30 vehicles in the village sustained damage from the baseball-sized hail.
As of last Friday, the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation had so far received close to 200 "preharvest" claims.
"If a producer has received damage on their crop and wants to put it to another use or they don't want to take it to harvest, they can register what we call a pre-harvest claim," explained SCIC president, Shawn Jaques.