Pine Lake tornado survivors relive twister’s terror 20 years later: ‘I was just trying to search for family’

Twenty years ago, a tornado tore through Green Acres Resort Campground on Pine Lake, Alta., killing 12 people and injuring over 100 others.

It’s rated as the second-most deadly tornado in Alberta’s history behind the Edmonton-area twister that killed 27 people July 31, 1987.

The mass destruction was hard to grasp. Cars and trailers were tossed like toys at Pine Lake, about 40 kilometres southeast of Red Deer.

1:47 A look back at the Pine Lake tornado 20 years later

When the menacing clouds started rolling in early on the evening of July 14, 2000, some campers started to take action.

“My wife had a spider-sense feeling that something was going to happen and it wasn’t going to be good. So she got the kids into the trailer, under the bunk beds and covered them up with a sleeping bag,” retired Calgary police officer Jim Lebedeff recalled.

He was staying at Pine Lake with his wife and two young kids.

Hail the size of baseballs shattered the windows on the family’s van and trailer. They all took cover under the bunk beds.

“I got tossed on my back and I was grabbing our counter top to try and get back on my feet and see what was going on and stuff was still flying inside and we had a glass cutting board that’s where I am pretty sure I severed my finger,” Lebedeff said.

3:11 ‘I remember it clearly, but it still seems like a very surreal event’: Andrew Schultz on Pine Lake tornado

The choice they made to hide under the beds likely saved their lives. A tree impaled the bathroom-side of the trailer into the bathtub.

“Had we been in there, we probably all would be dead. There would be four dead bodies in there because that tree literally went through the side of trailer,” Lebedeff said.

Small objects became deadly missiles. Both Lebedeff’s trailer and van were picked up and moved about 30 feet.

When Lebedeff emerged a few minutes after the storm, he said it was like a bomb had gone off.

“I had never seen anything like that. I had been a policeman for quite a while already and seen a lot of things but nothing to describe this,” Lebedeff said.

2:18 July 14, 2000: Powerful tornado rips through Green Acres campground on Pine Lake killing 12

Despite having a serious cut to his hand that severed an artery, Lebedeff and two other off-duty police officer started doing what they could, turning off the hissing propane tanks and pulling survivors out of twisted trailers.

“There were definitely people who were severely injured and hurt and lots of cuts and bruises and gashes and that type of thing that young kids don’t need to see. I’m sure it’s something that stuck in their minds for quite a while,” Lebedeff said.

Lebedeff praised the work of first responders who quickly triaged the wounded. Both he and his son were treated at the Red Deer hospital. Colin suffered a concussion after being hit by the bathroom door in the trailer.

3:03 Pine Lake tornado: How weather technology has advanced 20 years later

Taylor Aronovich was 11 years old when she was camping with her parents and brother at Pine Lake on July 14, 2000. Both she and her mom suffered broken legs during the twister.

“My mom ended up getting sucked out of the trailer so I was by myself. The vivid memory I have is the trailer literally going on its corner and tilting and seeing all the glass from all of our windows was getting sucked in. And then seeing my little orange tabby go from one end of the trailer to the next,” Aronovich said.

She woke up metres away from the trailer, pinned under a tree stump which her father lifted off her. Her family all survived.

“I’m scared and I’ve got blood all over me and soaking wet and cold and going into shock. I was just trying to search for family,” Aronovich recalled.

Divers scoured the lake for days after. Twelve people were killed in the storm.

Neither Aronovich or Lebedeff  have gone back to Pine Lake. They consider themselves lucky and still think about all the families who suffered far greater losses.

Lebedeff has become much more aware of the weather surrounding his community.

“Over the years I have gotten more nervous. When the tornado watches were coming in on my cellphone (on July 5) and it was for Calgary — and of course you pay attention and you look out the window. I am always looking to the north and the west because that is typically where the ugliness comes from with the storm clouds,” Lebedeff said.

“You learn to pay attention and watch what is going on and what is happening. I tend to do that quite often when you get the thunderstorm warnings and watches.”