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Central Alberta campground evacuated during powerful summer storm

WATCH ABOVE: People camping at an RV park near Sundre are still cleaning up after trees toppled on their trailers overnight, and in Calgary the city is watching the wind closely. Global’s Mia Sosiak reports – Aug 23, 2016

A campground in central Alberta was evacuated on Monday due to a powerful storm which toppled trees and power lines.

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The wild weather also caused a power outage at the Tall Timber Leisure Park in Sundre.

READ MORE: Central and northern Alberta rocked by extreme weather

Tall Timber Leisure Park manager Rebecca Trotter said it was a scary storm to witness.

“It came out of nowhere, we weren’t expecting it.”

“Before we knew it, we had trees downed all over the park – it’s a massive park, so it’s pretty frightening.”

“We didn’t expect trees to start coming down – and they sure came down.”

“We’ve been very watchful of the weather here,” Trotter added, saying the park can have up to 1,000 guests each weekend.

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Kimberly Rose and her husband witnessed the storm’s damage first hand. The pair was inside their RV when a large tree came crashing down onto the roof, causing significant damage.

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Rose’s children weren’t in the RV at the time; they were with their grandmother at a nearby swimming pool.

Meanwhile, Trotter said emergency crews had to cut apart a fallen spruce tree to allow one camper to evacuate, as the tree had fallen in the path of her vehicle.

“She couldn’t get out,” Trotter explained. “So emergency services cut the tree and enabled her to get out.”

Despite the damage throughout Tall Timber, no injuries were reported.

WATCH: A summer storm with powerful winds in Sundre caused the evacuation of the Tall Timber Leisure Park. 

Crews with Fortis Alberta are working to fix the downed power lines and restore power to the park.

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Trotter said she was hopeful that guests would be able to return to the park to assess damage by Wednesday.

A statement posted on the campground’s website at 8:35 p.m. Monday asked visitors not to return to Tall Timber until “advised to do so.”

The town of Sundre is located about 115 kilometres northwest of Calgary.

– With files from Doug Vaessen

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