Thursday’s tornado southeast of Sundre left more than 1.5 kilometers of flattened property and trees, but no injuries.
The twister is now being investigated by Environment Canada, which sent meteorologists to the scene Friday to map the damage and study the scale of the storm.
“You know there’s so much we know and so much we don’t know about the tornado,” said Sarah Hoffman, a meteorologist with Environment Canada. “It’s amazing how they can do damage in multiple places and still be one consistent tornado, they can do extreme damage right down to very little damage.”
One family was lucky to escape the storm. Chris Mariak was with his four- and seven-year-old daughters visiting his parents when they went outside to see the lightning.
“I saw the storms heading straight for each other, and when they collided, they started spinning,” Mariak said. “Then you could hear a big ‘WHOOSH’ really loud. It was an unforgettable sound.”
(Supplied/Alberta RCMP)
After watching the funnel cloud seem to touch down several times, the adults quickly discussed their situation. Their home sits on a pad and has no basement. They decided to get into their vehicles and flee on a rented road that took them away from the fast approaching storm.
They succeeded with seconds to spare.
“You cloud see in the rearview mirror the big funnel and it touched down right behind us,” Mariak said. “You could see tree limbs flying across the road.”
FLAT TREES
Several trees were left standing on their property, many split and downed by the tornado.
Less than a kilometer away, another property bore the brunt of the severe weather event, completely destroying several buildings, including at least one house. Pieces of fiberglass insulation could be seen hanging from power lines, while trailers and pieces of metal roofs were scattered among hundreds of meters of broken forest.
Chain saws were heard almost constantly everywhere in the area of Township Road 320 and Range Roads 44 and 45 for most of the day Thursday.
Environment Canada said this year’s significant rainfall has left more of the raw material for strong thunderstorms and tornadoes than last year.
In 2021, dry and often smoky conditions helped limit the number of tornadoes in the province to just three. Alberta averages 10 each year.
If a severe storm with tornado potential is approaching, go to the basement and find the most secure and heavily constructed room, preferably away from exterior walls.
(Supplied/Alberta RCMP)
Despite the rules, as the Mariak family learned, it still pays to keep making decisions and realize that there is no one answer for every situation.
“Be mindful that you’re looking at the sky and when you see those clouds that are developing quickly, getting darker very quickly, the rotation, really trust your instincts,” Hoffman said.
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