A semi truck rolled over while driving toward Medicine Hat on the Trans-Canada Highway. Firefighters say the driver was sent to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.--NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@mocranker
Medicine Hat was blasted with strong winds Wednesday, causing commotion and destruction around the city and its surrounding areas.
Environment Canada issued a wind warning just after 10 a.m. that gave word of gusts up to 110 km/h, and as high as 140 km/h in wind-prone areas.
A semi truck driving on the Trans-Canada Highway near Medicine Hat tipped over around 11 a.m., with emergency crews arriving shortly after.
The driver of the semi was taken to Medicine Hat Regional Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to the Medicine Hat Fire Department.
The fire department responded to a number of calls on top of the flipped semi, including a number of downed power lines in the city.
Acting platoon chief Ryan Pinter says it is important to stay safe during intense wind.
“It’s important to be cautious of winds,” he said. “Wind is flipping vehicles over, so it’s important to be aware of your situation and your surroundings.”
With the downed power lines, the city was dealing with a couple thousand homes without power.
The city reported outages for 2,890 customers in the city. Outages were mostly in or near Crescent Heights.
By 2 p.m., the city was reporting that power had been restored to Hatters, but the wind was making it difficult to repair damaged infrastructure.
