At least three and possibly five twisters swept through the east-central part of the province on the same day last week
Neighbours are helping farm families clean up after a tornado swept through the Foam Lake, Sask., area June 29.
The twister touched down around 5 p.m., hitting a farmyard about five kilometres west and 1.6 km south of the town, before heading north and east, and damaging a farm north of the town. Power lines went down and the highway and rail line were closed for a time due to debris.
The affected families still have their homes, but bins, equipment and other items are damaged or missing.
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Rob and Janina Currah’s farm suffered the worst of the damage. Shanna York, family friend and administrator for the Rural Municipality of Foam Lake, said the family wasn’t home at the time, although Rob saw the approaching tornado, ran home to save the dog and headed in the other direction.
“They were very thankful that nobody was home,” said York.
She said a warning from the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency came “pretty much at the same time the tornado was spotted.”
Photographs on social media show it looming behind homes but it wasn’t until after it moved along that town residents knew it had missed them.
The Currahs’ main yard as well as their bin yard to the east experienced extensive damage.
“Thank God seeding was over because their air drill and seeder and stuff were all out there and they were looking pretty trashed,” York said. “(Bins are) crumpled up balls of steel now. They don’t even look like bins anymore.”
One estimate pegged the number of bins lost at 47. Two chemical totes hadn’t yet been found.
“I would hate to know what the damage cost is going to be, how much grain or chemical was lost, what they’re going to do for equipment come harvest. At least they all are fine,” said York.
Dickson Delorme, who farms in the area, said about 50 people headed to the Currah farm the next day to clear trees and glass and clean up as much as they could before insurance adjusters were to arrive July 4.
He said a new shop was destroyed and 90 percent of the bin yard was gone.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Delorme said, adding that neighbours would rally around the affected families “because that’s what a small town does.”
York said the RM didn’t see much damage other than trees and debris on roads. Any cattle that could have been in the area were being pastured to the north, she said.
However, it has applied for a disaster designation to help those in the area with costs that may not be covered by insurance policies.
The area has seen funnel clouds before and several years ago a tornado touched down in crop land north of town between Foam Lake and Fishing Lake.
“We thought that was exciting,” she said wryly.
The damage is a reminder to have a plan in case of emergency. York said there are things to do after a storm that people probably haven’t considered.
“They were picking up meat out of their deep freeze because the deep freeze lid and everything got sucked right off,” she said.
The Foam Lake tornado was one of three confirmed the same day.
The first touched down near Manitou Beach at 3:05 p.m., followed by another at Margo and Foam Lake at 4:55 p.m. and the third at 5:25 p.m. near Cymric.
Environment Canada was also looking into reports of two other tornado sightings and whether the tornados at Foam Lake and Manitou Beach were the same one.
Meanwhile, June was a heavy month for hail damage to crops, said the Canadian Crop Hail Association.
Between June 8 and 25 hail as large as baseballs was reported in some areas and association members are investigating more than 649 claims of crop damage.
A long list of community areas have been affected throughout the prairie grain belt and damage will depend on crop development.
CCHA chair Scott McQueen said storms damaged all types of crops in all three provinces.
“We are seeing a lot of light damage on early-stage crops,” he said. “With seeding a bit behind in most areas, crops are just starting to emerge from the ground resulting in light damage from hail. We have seen some significant damage in fall rye, winter wheat, and some pea crops.”
