Heavy rains pounded areas of southern Alberta Thursday, July 7, washing out bridges, overtaking roads and flooding fields and pastures.
Tornados were sighted south of Sundre and Innisfail, high winds and tennis ball sized hail stones battered crops and property. A riding arena at Innisfail was destroyed, several farmyards between that community and Red Deer were hit and a shop roof was lost.
Sundre seed grower Bob Mastin said half of his crops are heavily damaged from the hail and excess rain.
Mastin said the timing couldn’t have been much worse as his crops were planted and the end of April and were advanced past a vegetative stage where recovery is possible.
“The hail stones left holes in the side of the road’s edge that you could stick your fist into,” said Mastin.
Sundre insurance agent Bert Cardon owns Penny Agencies and gathered some of the hailstones and saved them in a freezer as evidence of the storm’s force. The stones were also keeping him busy at his business.
July 8 heavy rains restricted traffic on highways and near Weyburn, Sask., as water once again overtook roads’ surfaces. Heavy rain and occasional hail fell on a line from Wilcox to Wynyard.
The storms were a product of warm, wet air meeting cold from the Arctic as strong low pressure system slides across western Canada’s northern region.
