A critical tornado warning was lifted for Mountain View County, Alta. on Saturday afternoon.
Earlier Saturday afternoon, Environment Canada said meteorologists were tracking a severe thunderstorm that is producing a tornado. The tornado was located near Didsbury and is moving southeast at 40 km/h.
Damaging winds, large hail and locally intense rainfall may also occur.
Areas affected include:
- Mountain View County
- Didsbury
- Olds
- Carstairs
The warning was later lifted at around 2:45 p.m.
Numerous homes were damaged but no injuries were reported at this time, the RCMP said in an emailed statement.
The Town of Carstairs tweeted at 4:53 p.m. that temporary water restrictions are now in place until power is restored.
FortisAlberta said they are triaging the situation in Carstairs and Mountain View County in a tweet on Saturday afternoon.
Carstairs resident Cheryl Beck told Global News was heading home from lunch with her girlfriend when she saw the tornado.
She called her son to ask where the tornado was headed and continued to drive towards Carstairs along Highway 2A.
“There were two farms on either side of the 2A that had been damaged by the tornado,” she told Global News.
“The big trees were chopped up like toothpicks and the homes were damaged. The outbuildings were damaged. Farm equipment was turned over the big round bales all over the place. First responders were on the scene. It didn’t look good.
“It’s still quite windy. It will be a while before things are back to normal here.”
“This is a dangerous and potentially life-threatening situation. Tornado warnings are issued when imminent or occurring thunderstorms are likely to produce or are producing tornadoes,” the alert read.