Nearly two weeks after a tornado ripped through an area north of Calgary, volunteers are out picking up debris by hand.
There used to be a house on the Kellsey family farm north of Carstairs, Alta. That was before of savage winds tore it down to the foundation in just minutes on July 1.
All while Diane Kellsey was in the basement with her dog.
“I got the alert on my phone and I looked up and saw the funnel cloud behind the quonset,” recalled Diane.
Diane scooped up her dog and they huddled downstairs while she listened to what sounded like the gazebo crashing into the side of the house.
“I just started praying that Jesus would keep us safe and the next thing I remember hearing is my son calling ‘Mom are you there? It’s going to be OK. I’m coming for you.'”
Diane’s son Travis lives across the highway with his wife Kari and their baby. They, too, were saved by seeking shelter in the basement.
“We were devastated and heartbroken but blessed that we are alive. It doesn’t seem real seeing that our homes are gone,” Kari said.
The couple emerged unharmed but their home was also destroyed. Travis ran over to his parents’ place and started digging through the debris to find his mom.
“I looked around and half the door was gone. There were pieces of wood and nails, and glass all pooled around my feet. There was straw everywhere,” Diane said.
“There was a fireman at the top and he lifted me the rest of the way, and then I looked around and everything was gone. The barn was gone. The house was gone. My son carried me and kept saying ‘it’s OK mom.'”
Hundreds of people have been at the site since the tornado touched down destroying 6 homes. There were no injuries but 50 of the Kellsey’s herd of cattle were killed or had to be put down.
“When I came over the hill and I saw this farm was gone, my heart sank. It was devastating,” said Tyler Frank.
Frank started working for the family as a teenager. He’s now a works for the Calgary Fire Department. He was one of the first on scene and took on the job of assessing the cows.
“We had a bunch of dead animals and it wasn’t pretty, but we did what we had to do and what was best for the animals,” Frank said.
“This family has done a lot for me over the years and this is where I needed to be. I’ve never seen anything like that: a lifetime of work gone in 30 seconds.”
Amid the destruction, the family is thankful everyone is safe. Seeing so many people support them with equipment, food, love and labour has helped them carry on.
“It’s amazing to see the community come out like this and help us. This is the bit of good that comes out of it,” Kari said.
Doug Delong is the lead pastor at First Baptist Church in Olds, Alta. He said he felt overwhelmed by the amount of food that was donated to the family as well as the number of people from the church who came out to help lend a hand.
“This type of destruction and devastation — you can’t handle it by yourself. Having someone come alongside and help carry the load with you is encouraging,” Delong said.
Dianne Engel-Kimmel lives nearby but didn’t know the Kellsey family until the tornado happened. She’s been coordinating the volunteers who have brought equipment and expertise.
“We are doing the grid system right now, just trying to do bite-sized pieces. When you see those bite-sized pieces come together, what we’ve done is just amazing and it makes the family feel so encouraged,” Engel-Kimmel said. “It’s been an amazing experience with the outpouring of support.”
The family isn’t sure if they will rebuild on the same location.
One thing they are certain of is how blessed they said they feel knowing that everyone is unharmed. Four family members found shelter basements and Ray Kellsey was not at home at the time.
“I realized none of us were bleeding or hurt or broken and my niece who lives in the trailer wasn’t home and my husband wasn’t in the yard and we were fine but the house was gone,” Diane said.
The tornado is among the most powerful ever recorded in Canada. It has been rated at EF-4 by the University of Western Ontario’s Northern Tornadoes Project in collaboration with the Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) Prairie and Arctic Storm Prediction Centre.
It tossed farm equipment and destroyed homes, but volunteers were able to find Kari Kellsey’s wedding ring amidst all the debris.
“They tore down the house because it was structurally unsound, but it was found not far from the bedroom on the other side,” she said. “I said ‘I can’t believe you found it.’ A tiny little ring.
“It was such a good feeling.”