Direct Hit
We’ve had a bit of an upset here this month. On Sunday, August 2nd, we got hit with a severe storm. My husband had gone to bed, but because I am a volunteer weather watcher I stayed up. I had been watching the radar earlier and knew that whatever was coming was going to be big. However, I hadn’t anticipated how big.
It started about 11:00 pm with really intense lightning. Pretty soon I could hear a roaring sound. From my training I know that can be one of two things. Debris from a tornado or large hail. I heard the first large clunk of something hit the house and yelled for my husband, where we rushed to the basement. At that point I wasn’t sure if it was debris or hail.
A person sometimes goes over these scenarios in their head and thinks about what to make sure you grab to take with you. I can assure you that there is no time to grab anything. All you are thinking is get yourself to safety.
Once in the safety of the basement we could see it was hail, not debris. Although that didn’t mean the possibility of a tornado was gone. Nor did it mean the possibility for damage didn’t exist. I immediately got on the phone with Environment Canada. The hail started off as baseball sized, and over the next 20 minutes to half an hour reduced in size from golf ball to pea sized. You could hear the hail beating the house and everything outside. Your first thoughts are still not on your property but on your own safety.
After the storm we could assess some of the damages. A couple of broken windows – in the barn and one in the sunroom. Could have been worse. Some of the neighbors had house windows broken. The siding and roof, and pretty much anything outside is beat up and will need to be replaced. The gardens and pastures look like someone took a weed whacker to them. Shredded. Trees down.
The campground down the road suffered extensive damage with trees falling and the hail. A few people camping had to be taken to hospital. One girl was airlifted to Edmonton. Wednesday a disaster recovery crew came in to put temporary fixes on leaking roofs. Now we wait for insurance and proper repairs; thankful at being safe, but annoyed at the costs and inconvenience.
In: New Work · Tagged with: Alberta, weather
