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Researchers noted the tornado as one of the more significant Alberta has seen since Pine Lake in 2000
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Families on the warpath of a tornado that slammed central Alberta on Saturday afternoon were assessing the extensive damage to their homes and properties as researchers and meteorologists began to take a closer look at the twister’s destruction on Sunday morning.
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“Everything’s gone. Everything’s moved. Everything’s trashed,” Ray Kellsey, whose family has lived in a now-flattened farmhouse between the towns of Didsbury and Carstairs since 1944, told Postmedia roughly 24 hours after the violent winds ripped through his property.
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“Within a matter of 30, 40 seconds, it went from one end of the farm and demolished everything right to the other end.”
Diane Kellsey, Ray’s wife, was at home alone as the tornado struck around 1:45 p.m. on Saturday. Diane and Ray’s son, Travis Kellsey, who lives across the street with his young family, jumped into action alongside fire crews as he saw the winds begin to tear apart his childhood home, knowing his mother was still inside.
“I put my wife and my baby in a firetruck that was on the street and then told the firefighters to watch my wife and kid, and I came over and got my mom,” Travis said.
The family noted that Diane made it out of the wreckage without a scratch, despite the home already being nearly levelled above her before her son and fire crews came to the rescue.
“Everything’s good (today),” said Travis. “Mom’s doing great, my little girl’s doing great, my wife’s doing awesome.”
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Darlene Bowen, Ray’s sister, said she was thankful that nobody was hurt, but she burst into tears the moment she arrived at her decimated family home later Saturday evening.
“I’m telling you, I just started to cry; it was devastating to see my childhood property just totally demolished. Devastating,” she said. “In the same token, I also know that we’re going to be okay. It’s only stuff, and I’m grateful everybody was okay.
“We’re all in shock. They’re obviously all in shock. And they’re all at this point, wondering what the next step is and how we move on from here.”
Damages could have been worse: researchers, meteorologists
The Kellseys are just one of more than a dozen families left to cope with the twister’s fallout. Their long-time family home is one of 14 that sustained significant damage and one of five that were entirely destroyed, according to the RCMP’s count.
The tornado blasted through the rural area at 30 km/h, leaving in its path a string of flattened farm buildings, destroyed farm equipment and dozens of downed trees. The twister also killed several livestock — 25 cows and 20 chickens died, while one horse was put down due to injuries, RCMP said.
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No severe human injuries or deaths were reported as a result of the disaster. According to researchers and meteorologists who made their way to the area late Saturday night and Sunday morning, it could have been a lot worse.
Western University’s Connell Miller, the engineering researcher for the Northern Tornado Project, said this is one of the most severe tornado events Alberta has seen since the Pine Lake tornado of 2000, which killed 12 people.
“Anytime you have houses that are completely destroyed, it’s a bit of a rarity for Canada,” he said. “Canada has such a low population density that even when we do get strong tornadoes, they tend to miss a lot of residential structures.”
‘This storm means business’
According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, the tornado formed from a super-cell storm — a lengthy thunderstorm — and spent 20 minutes or longer on the ground. It’s an anomaly for the area, where twisters typically peter out after around 10 minutes.
“Of course, there are always exceptions,” said Jesse Wagar, a meteorologist with the federal weather agency, noting that the Edmonton tornado of 1987 — which killed 27 people — was on the ground for a “very, very long time.”
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Researchers will remain on site for the next few days, investigating the damage to determine an EF rating for the tornado.
Storm chaser Matt Melnyk said he spotted the storm from his northwest Calgary home about an hour before it touched down and immediately noted, “This storm means business.”
“I’ve been chasing storms for 15 years, and I’ve never seen something like that before,” he said. “I kept saying to myself, like, ‘Oh my goodness, I hope this is not going through anyone’s house right now.’ We typically have an idea where the path is, but this thing was so big, it was kind of hard to judge exactly.”
Community comes together
Still, after the violent winds passed, Canada Day fireworks were still a go in Didsbury and Carstairs on Saturday night. Each town’s fire departments put on their respective shows as planned despite the hectic day, something Didsbury fire chief Curtis Mousseau noted as a sign of the community’s resilience.
“It (was) a busy day, stressful,” he said. “But if we could shoot fireworks off and maybe bring a little enjoyment to some of our area residents, why wouldn’t we go ahead and do that?’”
Miller also noted the community spirit showcased Sunday, with several residents grabbing their chainsaws and shovels to help with what will surely be a lengthy clean-up process, and bringing lunch to neighbours in severely impacted areas.
“It makes our job a little harder because it’s we want to get pictures of the damage before it’s cleaned up,” he said. “But obviously, we don’t want to stop anyone from cleaning up, so we’re happy to see the community come come together like that.”
mrodriguez@postmedia.com
Twitter: @michaelrdrguez
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