A suspected tornado ripped through Winnipeg’s south end Monday night and destroyed at least one home.
John Hanesiak, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Manitoba, was in Whyte Ridge Tuesday morning to assess the damage left behind by a strong storm system he suspects was a tornado.
A home on Tolcross Gate was destroyed by the storm. Winds ripped up the garage and the home’s roof. Neighbours say the owners weren’t home at the time.
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Storm damage in Whyte Ridge on Tuesday. Roofs throughout the neighbourhood had shingles ripped off and thrown into the street.
“We can definitely see a line of damage,” Hanesiak said. “So, just based on reports of the linear damage path that’s actually occurred, and that it was very localized, it’s definitely a small tornado.”
Roofs throughout the neighbourhood had shingles ripped off and thrown into the street. Large trees were uprooted and branches were scattered on the road.
A group of trees that had fallen over were blocking nearby Columbia Drive to motorists.
At least one other home on Tolcross had its roof ripped off. A woman who was home at the time, who declined to give her name, was in the garage smoking a cigarette when the storm hit.
“(The rain) just started coming down, like pouring. And then the roof just started to go,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Hanesiak works with the Northern Tornadoes Project to assess and rate storms. His crew was in Rossburn Tuesday, where a tornado destroyed two homes Sunday evening.
Environment Canada recorded 27 millimetres of rain between Monday morning and Tuesday at 5 a.m. in Winnipeg. No wind speeds were published as of Tuesday morning.
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Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) woke to many messages and photos of the storm on her phone. She told reporters she’s notified the city’s forestry department about the fallen trees.
“Last night at my house, I’ve never heard the wind and seen the wind so intense. It was actually scary,” she said.
Lukes said the provincial and federal governments need to increase their disaster response budgets in light of increasingly severe weather patterns in Manitoba.
— with files from Joyanne Pursaga
nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca
Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer
Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.
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