CTV News | More twisters touch down in southwestern Manitoba

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More twisters touch down in southwestern Manitoba

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CTV Winnipeg: Stacey Ashley on the major clean up
Canada AM: Reed Timmer, storm chaser
Canada AM: Len Kindred, tornado survivor
Canada AM: Dave Carlsen, Warning Preparedness Meteorologist
CTV Newsnet: Dan Kulak, Environment Canada

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CTV.ca News Staff

Date: Sun. Jun. 24 2007 7:19 PM ET

Environment Canada is investigating reports that several more tornados have wreaked havoc in Manitoba, while the town of Elie recovers from an earlier twister.

Dan Kulak, a spokesperson from Environment Canada, told CTV Newsnet that at least four, possibly five, tornadoes touched down in southwestern Manitoba.

Tornadoes were reported Saturday evening near Pipestone, Minto, the Canupawakpa First Nation and an area between Hartney and Delorain.

Bev Flannery and her husband, who own a farm in Pipestone, received a call from their neighbour urging them to hurry home.

When they arrived, they saw more than 40 years of work destroyed -- the twister had demolished their barn.

"Why couldn't it have gone out to the pasture or somewhere?" Flannery told CTV Winnipeg. "You just wonder, why us?"

But the couple were thankful their home, just a stone's throw away from the barn, was left intact.

Kulak said two of the tornados whipped through one area at the same time.

"A couple were very close together, almost simultaneous near a First Nations' community in southwestern Manitoba. There were another series of tornados forming in the southwestern part or the province," Kulak said on Sunday from Edmonton.

"It's been another wild night on the Prairies!"

Witnesses said one of the twisters was the width of a football field with winds of up to 400 kilometres per hour.

There were no deaths or injuries but the Dakota-Ojibwa police service lost its roof and the fire station and some homes on the Canupawakpa First Nation are damaged.

The same system also prompted weather warnings throughout Saskatchewan.

"Right now, as far as damage actually goes, they were no where as bad as what happened in Elie, but certainly an outbreak of five tornadoes is a very significant weather event," Kulak said.

A tornado that obliterated at least four homes in Elie, Man., on Friday has been classified as an F4 -- one of the most violent twisters possible.

Environment Canada meteorologists believe the twister that hit Elie, a community west of Winnipeg, had wind speeds of up to 417 kilometres per hour.

In addition to the destroyed homes in Elie a few trucks were tossed into fields and powerful winds caused a transport truck to roll over into a ditch on the Trans Canada Highway.

Rescuers used search dogs to look for victims, but everyone was accounted for and there were no reports of injuries, according to reports.

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer toured the town on Saturday and promised financial support.

Kulak explained there are three weather conditions required to prompt the development of a tornado.

  • A weather condition known as "instability" which causes the warm air to rise and the cool air to sink.
  • A catalyst to set off the conditions such as a cold air front or warming from the sun
  • A condition called "windsheer" -- wind speeds and direction that change depending on height causing a "twisting of clouds" that can then become a tornado

Kulak said late June and July is peak tornado season in Canada.

"Typically storms will move from the West to the East and it's a good time to keep an eye on the sky and know what you're going to do if a tornado threatens and heads to your area."

With a report by CTV Winnipeg's Stacey Ashley and files from The Canadian Press

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