KILLARNEY, Man. – Jody Archibald could only watch last week as a tornado spun dangerously close to a neighbour’s farmyard and seed plant.
The tornado struck on the evening of Aug. 21 about 10 kilometres southeast of Killarney. Archibald, who had been harvesting a crop, was awed by how fast the funnel dipped from the sky before it went racing across a neighbour’s field.
“I couldn’t believe how fast it came down. All of a sudden there it was on the ground. It was just in seconds.”
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The tornado cut a path more than 100 metres wide and two kilometres long through Vic and Lila Peters’ field. It also tore a dozen mature poplar trees from the shelterbelt around their yard.
“It was absolutely brilliant white until it hit the ground,” Archibald said.
“Then there was 300 feet of dirt and trees. It lifted the trees a long, long way into the air.”
That sight prompted Archibald and other neighbours to race from their fields to check on their neighbour Lila Martens and her family, who sought shelter in their basement as the tornado swirled past their home and seed plant. When the noise subsided, they went upstairs to watch the twister ripping across their field.
“Curiosity got the best of us,” Martens said. “We watched it from inside the house, then we went outside.”
The tornado was tinged with black, yellow and gold – the colours of the dirt and canola from the field.
Twenty minutes after the tornado had passed, canola was still raining down on the Martens’ farm. Neighbours 20 kilometres away reported canola falling from the sky that evening, Martens said.
“We were pretty lucky it didn’t damage any buildings.”
She was also thankful that no one was injured. If the funnel had veered 100 metres to the north, it would have torn through her home.
Her husband and son had eaten supper and were returning to the field shortly before the tornado hit. They were able to reach the house just before the twister brushed past their farmyard.
The tornado was the fourth recorded in Manitoba this year. The province averages nine tornadoes a summer.
Manitoba was also struck by a severe hailstorm Aug. 21 that was centred mainly on Winnipeg. However, Manitoba Crop Insurance received dozens of insurance claims for crops damaged by hail that day in southern Manitoba.
