East central Sask. battered by storms as 3 tornadoes touch down
Power lines, farm buildings struck by tornado near Foam Lake Wednesday afternoon
A tornado caused damage to power lines and a farm near Foam Lake, Sask., approximately 200 kilometres northeast of Regina, late Wednesday afternoon.
Environment Canada confirmed Thursday morning that a total three tornadoes touched down near Foam Lake, Manitou Beach, and the Cymric/Govan area.
Riley Anthony, an amateur storm chaser who lives in Wynyard, was driving along Highway 16 west of Foam Lake when he saw a funnel cloud touch down around 5:15 p.m. CST.
After it passed by, he noticed power lines down along the highway, chunks of metal in trees, and damaged grain bins — which he estimates were thrown about a kilometre from their original location.
"There's a farmyard there with a lot of destruction," said Anthony. "The shed's gone. It's a big mess and it's really sad to see people lose everything that they worked for."
A passerby he spoke with believed no one at the farm was injured.
SaskPower reported outages in the area, with no estimated time of repair as of Wednesday evening.
"Foam Lake substation is still off. Crews are assessing damage from a weather system that went through the area," the agency's outage page reported.
Storm captures attention at popular beach
About 150 kilometres west of Foam Lake, people in the Watrous and Manitou Beach area of the province snapped photos and videos of the same storm cell spawning of a landspout tornado.
Near Watrous/Manitou today <a href="https://t.co/599NLcn2ke">pic.twitter.com/599NLcn2ke</a>
—@winstonwildcat<a href="https://t.co/k7hIjSRFe7">pic.twitter.com/k7hIjSRFe7</a>
—@TheAdamBenjaminVideo shows people leaving Manitou Beach as it approaches.
No damage was immediately reported.
Tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings were in effect as the system hit southern and central Saskatchewan Wednesday, but the storm near Foam Lake appears to have been the strongest so far.
The unsettled weather was the result of a cold front from a low pressure system that moved in from Alberta. That province saw severe storms, prompting tornado warnings, on Tuesday.
The system moves into Manitoba through the early morning hours Thursday, but no severe weather is expected for much of the Prairies through the day.
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