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Cottage country hit hardest by storm

WATCH ABOVE: Footage of rolling lightning storm Lakeshore Heights, Manitoba.

WINNIPEG – The majority of southeastern Manitoba was hit with a major rain and wind wallop Saturday, however, it appears cottage country may have been hit the hardest.

A ‘midday’ photo of Lake Winnipeg looking towards Gimli from Sandy Hook. Leslie Mehner/Submitted

Balsam Harbour and the Beaconia area recorded 140 millimetres of rainfall over the weekend from a combination of at least three different storm systems.

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Around 118 mm of that fell Saturday morning with more than 20 mm more overnight, according to Mark Melsness, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

Beaconia is along the southern shore of Lake Winnipeg and roughly 50 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

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“We have had reports of softball-sized hail around 6 a.m Saturday morning and one of our observers is reporting major vehicle damage,” Melsness told Global News via phone interview.

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Environment Canada was told some of the vehicles are so damaged they are not drive-able.

Of that rainfall amount, about 118 mm fell early Saturday morning and another 15-25 fell that night, Melsness said.

Global News viewers are also reporting basement flooding and damage in the Grand Beach and Grand Marais area.

Residents there dealt with gale force winds gusting above 85 km/hr and torrential downpours.

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“It damaged everything on the floor,” said Taylor Cook. “It was almost near our knees.”

Roughly 300 customers in Grand Beach/Grand Marais were without power for a number of hours as well.

Environment Canada said strong northwest winds developed during the night and throughout Sunday morning, although they were not as strong as anticipated.

In Victoria Beach there were 85 km/hr winds, Gretna was hit with gusts reaching around 80 km/hr while Deerwood and Kleefeld felt winds of 74 km/hr.

As for rainfall, the numbers varied throughout the southeastern part of the province.

  • Selkirk — 125 mm.
  • Lockport — 109 mm.
  • Beausejour — 92 mm
  • Domain — 87 mm. (not including additional rain from Saturday night)
  • Steinbach — 83 mm.
  • Menisino, between Vita and Sprague — 63 mm.
  • Great Falls, southeast of Pine Falls — 59 mm.
  • Gladstone — 50 mm.

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