UPDATE: Red Deer storm aftermath – 400 properties still without power
A severe thunderstorm walloped central Alberta Tuesday night, prompting the city of Red Deer to declare a local state of emergency that could stay in effect for several days.
High wind gusts around 7 p.m. downed trees and picked up debris, causing damage and power outages.
“At first I thought: it’s a tornado,” resident Eddie Drewitt said.
“Everything went dark, then we started hearing branches snapping. The neighbour’s yard, they had a tree come down across their fence — just a lot of damage.”
Christine Aldous said conditions changed very quickly.
“It was really nice and calm — a beautiful night actually. Then it hit with non real warning at all and it was crazy windy.”
“The winds came very quickly,” city manager Craig Curtis said during a news conference Wednesday morning. “They didn’t last long but they actually reached a speed of nearly 112 kilometres per hour.
“They certainly did a lot of damage in a swath across the city, from the southeast to the northwest and areas in between.”
At the height of the power outage, nearly 35 per cent of the city was without electricity.
At 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Red Deer officials said about 15 per cent of the city was still without power.
For a list of neighbourhoods where power remains out and for the latest details, visit Red Deer’s website.
Mayor Tara Veer said residents still without power should prepare for an additional 72 hours without power. While crews worked overnight and through the day, she said the severity of damage is “significantly hindering” their ability to restore power in some areas of the city.
“We, unfortunately, have a long road ahead of us.”
Veer thanked crews and community members for their work and patience and thanked other levels of government for offering their support.
- Shelter in place as much as possible as long as it’s safe
- Look to neighbours, friends and family members if they have power
- Those with extenuating circumstances should call 211 or emergency social services at (403) 342-8111 for assistance
“Our focus at this point has been the health and safety of Red Deerians,” Veer said. “We will begin assessments of property damage once we restore order to the city. The priority of course is restoring power and that is in the interest of public safety and to allow business as usual as soon as possible.”
READ MORE: Severe weather knocks down trees, causes power outages in central Alberta
“We do know that it was a severe wind storm,” Veer said. “Our Emergency Operations Centre has been in touch with Environment Canada.
“It is up to Environment Canada to upgrade if there was tornado-like activity. They have not confirmed that otherwise but there were significant levels of wind, which caused significant damages to property in the community.”
Watch below: After Tuesday’s severe storms left a wake of damage across central Alberta, Global News wanted to see how Environment Canada watches, forecasts and issues alerts about storms. Here’s Jesse Beyer.
Curtis said declaring the local state of emergency opens up access to resources from other levels of government and allows several agencies to work together more quickly and efficiently.
He added a large number of staff was deployed to deal with the damage:
- Public works had five crews of three people out in the community plus staff working at city yards.
- Parks crews had eight crews of two people working.
- EMS had 33 staff plus assistance from out of town.
- RCMP had 16 marked units protecting downed power lines.
- Transit was fully staffed until nearly midnight.
“I just got a call here, a message on my phone saying that the school is cancelled because there’s no power,” Red Deer resident Christine Aldous said Wednesday. “They have closed the school for the day.”
Electrical crews were working through the night, but residents were told to expect significant delays in having their power restored.
“Our crews are still working hard to make their way around Red Deer and to clean up areas impacted by last night’s storm,” Veer said. A statement on the city’s website said it may take up to two days to restore power to some areas.
Veer said one person at the Lion’s campground was injured in the storm, but they were treated and released from hospital quickly.
Meanwhile, cleanup at the campground is expected to take days. Trees were knocked down and some RVs were heavily damaged.
Veer acknowledged the businesses, residents and property managers affected by the damage.
“I am most proud of the patience and gratitude our citizens have shown to our crews and to each other in the wake of last night’s storm,” Veer said, adding she was grateful to those who were out Wednesday morning helping with the clean up.
The local state of emergency will remain in effect for one week, Veer said. The mayor said updates would be sent out via the city’s website and social media.
The city said the water treatment plant has power so water is safe to drink.
An emergency operations centre set up at Red Deer City Hall is co-ordinating response to the storm.
The high winds caused power outages in Lacombe County, Clearwater County, Red Deer County, Rimbey, Ponoka, Parkland and Bentley on Tuesday night. Fortis Alberta said crews were working to restore power, but as of Wednesday morning some customers were still without power.
Sylvan Lake was also hit hard by the storm. As of Wednesday morning, approximately 600 residences were still without power. The town said most of the damage was tree related and Fortis crews were working to restore power.
“Cleanup is still underway but there’s been a remarkable change from last night,” Mayor Sean McIntyre said Wednesday. “Our parks staff and our public works staff are all hands on deck right now making sure to create safe situations both on our roads, our sidewalks and our trail systems.”
“We saw a lot of boats washed ashore last night, along with trees down and other damage,” McIntyre said.
“During the storm, things were certainly in a panicked state around here, people seeking shelter. But the neighourly atmosphere that exists in Sylvan Lake was also on display where people opened their doors, opened their vehicles for people to make sure there was shelter.”
WATCH: A thunderstorm rolled through central Alberta on Tuesday evening. This video captures the strong winds in Red Deer, which knocked down trees.
In Edmonton, the city had received more than 200 reports of downed or damaged trees by 2 p.m. Wednesday. By that time, crews had responded to all calls and were able to stay on top of new calls as they came in to 311.
The older part of the city was hit the hardest, with the most damage occurring along Alberta Avenue, in Oliver, Garneau, Old Strathcona and downtown.
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