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Anatolii Savitskii/Dreamstime
SEVERE WEATHER

VIDEO: Storm through Brooks area causes damage Wednesday night, delays on Trans Canada

Aug 20, 2025 | 9:48 PM

Early Wednesday evening, Environment Canada said a fast-moving supercell tracked across southern Alberta bringing significant, damaging wind gusts and loonie to golf ball sized hail.

The wind and hail caused damage to property and trees.

According to power provider Fortis Alberta there were multiple power outages in Newell and Vulcan counties.

According to Alberta 511, Highway 1 was closed between Brooks and Bassano due to multiple collisions and downed power lines.

Metal power lines flattened trees, and power poles snapped, and damage to irrigation pivots were reported near Brooks.

There have been no tornado reports from this severe thunderstorm as of Thursday morning.

Wind gust measurements, as of 10 p.m. Wednesday were over 100 km/hr in multiple areas, including east of Jenner where Atlee reached wind speeds of 149 km/hr and Buffalo at 121 km/h.

Wind speeds east of Bassano had Lathom at 127 km/h, while Brooks and Patricia both were at 113 km/h.

Brooks RCMP had advised in a release shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday that there were many road closures on Aug. 20 as a result of a severe storm which hit the city.

As of early Thursday morning it was only advised on Alberta 511 that a downed power line pole was causing traffic delays.

AltaLink offered the following statement Thursday afternoon.

“We appreciate everyone’s patience as our crews work to assess the damage from yesterday’s storm and prioritize repairs. Following patrols this morning, we have identified damage on five transmission lines with a number of structures down and requiring repairs.

We are currently focusing efforts to repair and restore one specific transmission line that will restore power to the remaining customers in the area that are impacted. Our current estimate for this restoration is 11:30 p.m. tonight.

We continue to work closely with FortisAlberta to get power back up safely and as quickly as possible. We’ll share more details as we have them.”

The north and southbound lanes of Highway 36 at Highway 1, west of Brooks was open with speed reduced due to de-energized power lines on the highway.

Westbound Highway 1 was open with one lane of traffic and speeds reduced to 50 km/h.

Both eastbound lanes of Highway 1 had been closed early Thursday morning with Highway 36 as a detour.

The roadways have since been cleared and are now open in both directions of Highway 1, according to Alberta 511.

Wednesday night Mounties said there were many vehicles disabled on roads and downed power lines.

Highway 36, at Highway 1 east and westbound lanes, were not passable at that time.

It had been suggested that travellers take Highway 876 north and Highway 544 west to get around the city.

At the time RCMP had advised to not go southbound on Highway 36 to Highway 1 as they had said it was not passable.

Check 511 Alberta for the latest road condition updates.

An animal farm west of Brooks named White Barn Fun Farms that has a variety of animals they travel with to a variety of locations including the Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede last month had a pair of animals pass away during the storm.

Two large trees came down on a nine-year-old pony named Butterscotch and a five-year-old camel named Stoli.

The owner said they were devastated by the loss.

Medicine Hat Fire and Emergency Services said there were some tree branches that fell onto power lines on Wednesday in Medicine Hat, but nothing major.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) had posted several severe thunderstorm warnings Wednesday night that stretched from the Calgary area through to Winnipeg.

At one point, a tornado warning was triggered in and around Saskatoon.

Significantly sized hail was reported along the storm front, ranging in size from a nickel to a toonie.