Families in shock, grateful after tornado rips down homes near Calgary

A tornado that ripped quickly through Alberta’s Mountain View County Saturday has left several communities in shock.

Environment Canada issued a tornado warning in the early afternoon after meteorologists had been following a severe thunderstorm through south central Alberta that turned into a tornado. At times, the tornado spanned two kilometres and moved at speeds of 40 km/h.

Terri Lang, meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada said the tornado formed just before 2 p.m. and travelled east towards the south of Didsbury, and across Highway 2 before it dissipated.

She said the tornado formed from a super cell storm, which is a long-lasting thunderstorm.

“This one, single thunderstorm just continued on its way to the east and this tornado kept going on the ground for quite a long time,” she said.

2:18 Tornado leaves trail of devastation through central Alberta

It was only active for about 30 minutes, but destroyed five homes and killed 25 cows and 20 chickens, RCMP said. One horse had to be put down.

The tornado affected the small communities of Mountain View County, Didsbury, Carstairs and Olds, all located just north of Calgary.

There was no loss of human life or injuries, according to police. However, one woman was trapped in her basement as the tornado tore down her house overhead. Carstairs fire crews were able to pull her from the rubble.

“That house was 100 per cent gone,” said Carstairs fire chief Jordan Schaffer. “There was just debris on the floor, family members were on there, we climbed in and started to extricate her.

View image in full screen

“She actually came out without a scratch on her – I don’t even know how that’s possible.”

Schaffer said the scene was just like out of a movie – the woman’s house was completely leveled and her son’s house across the street is still standing but likely to be a total write off.

It was Darlene Bowen’s sister-in-law who was stuck in the basement of the home that was destroyed – the home she grew up in.

“I’m telling you, I just started to cry. It was devastating to see my childhood property just totally demolished,” she said. “Devastating but in the same token I also know that we’re going to be OK and it’s only stuff.

“We are just processing at this time. We are all in shock and they’re wondering what the next step is and how we move on.”

“It’s hard to put into words,” said resident Ray Kellsey, Bowen’s brother. “It’s probably going to take a few days before the proper words and thoughts get there but we’ve been here since 1944 so it’s fairly devastating.”

His wife, Diane, was in the basement when the tornado went through and their son was able to help her out.

“So, without being too terribly emotional here, he’s a hero in my eyes,” said Kellsey. “It’s a funny thing to say, but we are very blessed. I still got a wife, I still have my whole family.”

Travis Kellsey, Ray and Diane’s son, said he could hear the house crumbling.

“All I thought is: I want my mom. I know I’m a 30-year-old but I wanted my mom and God was with her and kept her safe,” Travis said. “There was nothing. The house was flat but I just wanted my mom out. I don’t want to be a hero – I just wanted my mom.”

Kellsey added he is incredibly grateful for the first responders, neighbours and members of their church.

Overall, between the communities there were 30 firefighters on scene, about 15 police officers and three health services trucks, he said.

ECCC confirmed Sunday evening that 12 homes were damaged by the tornado, three of which were destroyed while an additional four were deemed uninhabitable.

Storm Chaser Aaron Jayjack was witness not only to the storm but structures being taken out by the tornado.

He said a tornado of this strength and size is not normally seen in the plains area.

“When you have a tornado going on the ground for a half an hour, going in a straight line, inevitably at some point, that tornado’s going to hit something – unless you’re in the most remote parts of the world,” he said.

“Early on, it didn’t really cause too much damage. I saw it just miss a subdivision of maybe 10 or 15 pretty nice homes off to the southwest of Didsbury – just scraped by the side of them. I think it maybe hit a shed or a barn at one of those houses, saw a big explosion of debris, but fortunately missed all those houses.”

Jayjack said there were powerlines down and he could hear gas hissing when he got out of his car to make sure there weren’t any people hurt when he reached the destroyed houses.

“It was a really dangerous situation,” he said.