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Calgary cleans up after thunderstorm rips through southern Alberta

Calgarians will be cleaning up Friday after a powerful thunderstorm rolled through southern Alberta Thursday, bringing thunder, lightning, and wind gusts upwards of 90 kilometres per hour. The force of the downpour brought down trees and left thousands of homes without electricity for several hours.

Storm brought wind gusts up to 90 km/h, downed trees, knocked out power in some areas

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Calgary and parts of southern and central Alberta were covered by a severe thunderstorm warning Thursday evening. Firefighters worked to clear a fallen tree and electrical wires from Memorial Drive just west of 14th Street S.W. at about 8 p.m. (David Bell/CBC)

Calgarians will be cleaning up Friday after a powerful thunderstorm rolled through southern Alberta Thursday, bringing thunder, lightning, and wind gusts upwards of 90 kilometres per hour that toppled trees and knocked out power to thousands of homes. 

The thunderstorm hit Calgary at 7:30 p.m., bringing down trees all over the city, some of which knocked down power lines.

About 2,400 houses lost power in several neighbourhoods, including Pump Hill, Palliser, and Oakridge, Tuscany, Hawkwood and Edgemont. 

Enmax had extra staff on the ground to handle any issues during the storm. The power company said all of the affected homes had electricity restored by Friday morning. 

Environment Canada issued severe thunderstorm watches for much of southern Alberta, including Calgary. It also issued a tornado watch for Brooks, Strathmore and Vulcan, which was lifted at about 9:30 p.m. 

The agency said the low pressure system arrived from the Pacific Northwest and was expected to cause severe thunderstorms in the Foothills, capable of producing damaging wind gusts and large hail.

A thunderstorm passed through Calgary Thursday evening, bringing heavy rain, wind gusts and lightning. Doug McDougall took this shot of a bolt west of Westhills Shopping Centre. (John McDougall)
The storm's dark clouds swirled over Lethridge early Thursday evening. (Matt Price/Facebook)

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