By Scott Roblin

Damage becoming clear for southern Alberta residents affected by wind storm

Jun 11, 2018 | 3:46 PM

TILLEY, AB – Mother nature flexed her muscle over the weekend as gale force winds ripped through Medicine Hat and the surrounding area.

Much of Medicine Hat was left in the dark for hours, while it was utter destruction south of Tilley after a storm tore through a number of farmers fields on Saturday night.

From demolished barns to grain bins thrown like rag dolls, Tilley Fire Chief Patrick Fabian said the damage to some properties is extensive.

“To have a 300-foot barn completely flattened, and then have a number of pivots twisted over and destroyed in a matter of minutes is devastating to say the least,” said Fabian.

HERE'S WHAT TO KNOW

Summer pool hours extended and discounts applied as Big Marble Go Centre upgrades start

Apr 18, 2024

Medicine Hat company drawing in clients with witty signage

Apr 16, 2024

Medicine Hat College holding event for missing and murdered Indigenous women awareness day

Apr 16, 2024

Insurance companies will be attending to many of the farms, assessing damage and lost production due to the storm.

Fabian said while the damage is crushing for some local operations, many are just happy there weren’t any injuries involved.

“Everybody is talking about they’re just glad that nobody was hurt, injured, or killed,” he said. “At the end of the day this is all machinery, this is all infrastructure that can be replaced.”

Wind gusts of over 110 kilometres per hour also toppled a semi on the Trans-Canada Highway on Saturday, luckily the driver escaped the cab unharmed.

Fabian added it’s sometimes an unfortunate side effect of living in this corner of the province.

“When we live in southern Alberta, that’s the chance you take in the summertime with the weather that we have,” he said. “Like I say, this time our number came up and we got it.”

Medicine Hat got the brunt of the storm as well, with close to 7,000 residents and businesses losing power in areas like Southview, Crestwood, Southeast Hill, and the downtown core just to name a few.

The City’s General Manager of Utility Distribution Grayson Mauch said the first calls to action came in at around 6:30 pm on Saturday.

“Within minutes of the storm coming through, we started receiving alarms,” said Mauch. “So, once those alarms came in, we obviously were deploying staff immediately.”

The City’s 18 electric utility workers were kept busy overnight, repairing lines until 4:30 the following morning before heading back to work on Sunday afternoon.

Director of Emergency Management Merrick Brown said the City also launched their Notify Me Now service during a planned power outage in Redcliff.

“We used it for the self-registration,” said Brown. “It was a low-priority item, so it was sent via text message and email, it didn’t go to voice [messaging].”

Damage in Medicine Hat was also found on Belfast Street SE after a tree brought down half a dozen power lines.

Power was knocked out on Belfast Street for over 24 hours before coming back online late Sunday night.

According to local resident Val Lawrence, neighbours came together to make sure everyone was alright during the outage.

“We had every neighbour on this block out in the middle of the street providing support, asking if anybody needed anything, willing to drive out of the community to get whatever anybody needed,” said Lawrence.

As of Monday morning, power had been restored to all areas of the City, while crews continue to repair damaged infrastructure from the storm.

Even in the dark, Lawrence said the kindness of her neighbours lit up her street over the weekend.

“What you take away from this is the definition of community. I think Belfast Street 200 block just defined what community is all about.”

City crews are clearing fallen trees on public property, while trees fallen on private property are up to the home or business owner to remove.