Environment Canada is confirming three tornadoes touched down in southwest Saskatchewan on Saturday.
The weather agency confirmed the first tornado occurred at around 4:30 p.m. CST in the area of Glenbain and Kincaid.
“It was on the ground for quite a while,” says Alysa Pederson, meteorologist with Environment Canada.
The storm was moving southeast at around 20 km/h.
“It was part of a textbook-style supercell thunderstorm,” Global News meteorologist Peter Quinlan said.
The second tornado touched down near Kincaid and Woodrow at around 4:40 p.m. The damage to a home and farm property is still being investigated, says Environment Canada.
The third tornado was spotted just south of Assiniboia at around 6:20 p.m., says Environment Canada. According to Pederson, the tornado was “a little more brief” than the first one. No damage has been reported.
The strength of the tornadoes remains unknown at this time. Updates will be provided in the coming days.
Kim and Spring Rankin were watching the storm roll in on their acreage in Lafleche when they saw one of the tornadoes.
The couple were taking pictures at the edge of their driveway as they saw the storm produce multiple funnel clouds.
“We were talking to the neighbour and suddenly it got a little bigger, and I thought, interesting, we better watch what we’re doing here just in case we have to run into the house,” Kim Rankin said.
Spring says she was getting scared, but was also inquisitive as to what was going to happen.
“I said I would have taken wind, hail and rain any day over the tornado,” Spring said. “We just thank God that everything was OK and worked out all right.”
Damage has been reported in multiple areas across southwest Saskatchewan.
Hail damage and flooding has been reported in Assiniboia, according to the RCMP.
Environment Canada is asking anyone who has experienced damage to send it to skstorm@canada.ca or call 1 (800) 234-0484, as it’s people’s reports that help the agency confirm tornadoes.
“Especially when tornadoes happen in an area that are less populated, like these were,” Pederson said.
Tornado warnings were issued in multiple rural municipalities Saturday, including:
- Wood River, including Laflech, Woodrow and Melaval
- Stonehenge, including Limerick and Congress
- Willow Bunch, including St. Victor
- Excel, including Viceroy Ormiston and Verwood
- Lake of the Rivers, including Assiniboia
The tornado warnings ended as of 7 p.m. Saturday, but severe thunderstorms persisted throughout the night.