A major clean-up is still underway Sunday in parts of the Shuswap after a major thunderstorm swept through the area Saturday night.
Strong winds and driving rain suddenly inundated the interior and by the time the skies cleared there were downed trees, blocked roads and homes in the dark.
At the peak of the storm 14,000 customers lost power.
Hardest hit was the area of Magna Bay where residents said it was so dark and windy they had never seen anything like it.
On Sunday morning the extent of the damage was visible.
“The house beside us, it lost its roof and it lost the walls and the back of the cottage and we were next door and never heard anything,” said resident John Folk.
“The wind was so loud that we didn’t hear the cottage being demolished.”
Other homes were completely upended.
“When we got back our trailer was sitting in just a mass of destruction,” said another resident. “So six feet away from one side of our trailer was a tree completely downed with the power lines.”
The storm started at around 7 p.m. PT Saturday when Environment Canada said band of high winds developed suddenly in the area. The fast moving storm lasted less than 30 minutes but packed quite the punch.
-With files from Nadia Stewart
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