Heavy storm wallops southern Saskatchewan

A severe storm swept through southern Saskatchewan Thursday night, bringing with it at least two tornadoes, Environment Canada says. One tornado was reported in the Dafoe-Kandahar area, 150 kilometres north of Regina, and the other in the Carlyle area in the province's southeast corner, Brian Bukoski of Environment Canada told CBC News Friday. Hail stones as big as baseballs were also reported in the Yorkton area, he said. Carlyle fire Chief Trent Lee said high winds and rain hit the community of 1,200 about 8 p.m. The storm ripped the roofs off some buildings, knocked over trees and power poles, snapping power lines, and overturned several camper trailers. "You could hardly see [because] the rain was coming down so hard," Lee told CBC News Friday. The storm also caused a natural gas leak, and about 150 homes were temporarily evacuated in the middle of all the mayhem, he said. Once the leak was fixed, residents were allowed to return. "There is extensive damage through the whole town," he said. Carlyle was one of 18 communities that lost power for periods during the storm, SaskPower reported. Others affected were Yorkton, Weyburn, Biggar, Swift Current, Melfort, Tisdale and Carrot River.


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Intense storms cross southern Manitoba

Tornado warnings issued overnight Thursday were called off early Friday morning, but unsettled weather persisted over southern Manitoba, bringing intense thunderstorms and knocking out power in some areas. The tornado warnings had been issued in southwest Manitoba. By early Friday morning, the system had weakened somewhat, but severe thunderstorm watches and warnings were still in effect in a band moving northeast across the southern part of the province. The system could produce strong winds and large hail, meteorologists said. In Winnipeg, where booming thunder startled many people awake around 3 a.m., a lightning strike at a hydro pole near Downing Street and Ellice Avenue caused a power outage in the West End neighbourhood. Manitoba Hydro crews were still working on the problem at 8 a.m. Another outage around the same time left some 400 customers in the St. James area without power. That problem was resolved by about 5 a.m. The storm system is expected to move out of province later Friday morning, but rainy weather is forecast to return Friday night and for most of the day Saturday.

_{Bron: cbc}