Golf ball-sized hail rained down on Brooks on Wednesday, downing power lines, ripping siding off of houses and killing two fun farm animals. Environment Canada estimated peak wind gusts of 113 km/h winds roared through Brooks, overturning vehicles as hail damaged crops.--PHOTO COURTESY LAURIE BARON
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
Wednesday evening saw a large storm moving across southern Alberta, causing significant damage to homes and crops in the Brooks area.
The storm was identified by Environment and Climate Change Canada as a supercell system, which was caused by a rare combination of factors causing the formation just west of High River. The storm travelled roughly 575 kilometres before it finally dissipated near Outlook, Sask.
“This was a supercell which had like a bow echo signature, meaning that there was some very high momentum air coming down into the storm, creating those wind gusts,” said Matt Loney, a meteorologist with ECCC. “We had numerous reports above 100 kilometres an hour.”
In certain places, the gusts reached up to 149 kilometres per hour, such as in Atlee, near Brooks, where there were reported gusts of 113 kilometres per hour. The storm also brought rain and hail that varied from loonies to golf balls in size, but at the time of writing, there were no tornado reports originating from the storm.
“No tornado reports were received yet, though the Northern Tornadoes Project is assessing the event. But straight line wind damage was certainly quite, quite astounding with this storm,” said Loney.
There was significant damage caused throughout the storm’s path, including broken windows, damaged irrigation infrastructure, siding and roofs, flattened crops and downed power lines.
There were multiple power outages in Newell and Vulcan counties, as per Fortis Alberta. According to Alberta 511, the Trans-Canada was closed between Brooks and Bassano due to multiple collisions and downed power lines, said ECCC.
For White Barn Fun Farm near Brooks, the cost was not only structural, but emotional. Owner Melissa Jackson told the News the inclement weather came on quickly, with only about 10 minutes between the warning and the arrival of the storm.
“The alarm came at about 5 in the evening, and Dennis, my husband, was outside, and then at about 5:07 the hail started,” said Jackson. “All the animals ran to take cover under the trees, and my husband ran to the house, because he really didn’t know what was safe. It was very dark, it was very windy and there was golf ball sized hail.”
In the aftermath of the storm, the pair are dealing with broken windows, destroyed fences and fallen trees, but the hardest loss has been the deaths of their nine-year-old pony Butterscotch and five-year-old bactrian camel Stoli.
While the other animals are thankfully contained, says Jackson, the day has been a blur in “zombie survival mode” as they work with insurance and see to the veterinary care of animals who were injured by the storm. They are grateful that none of the human residents were hurt, and the other animals will recover, but are heartbroken for the pair that was lost.
As a result of the weather event, White Barn Fun Farm will no longer be able to host Brooks Corn Fest at Echo Dale Farm, which they regret, but are grateful for the support of the community in the wake of the loss.
“When you’re a small business, these events, they’re huge, and you have so much responsibility to look after them, that even in a crisis, you think, ‘Oh no, what am I going to do?’ But people are very understanding, and that makes it easier,” said Jackson.
