'Could have been a lot worse,' say Whiteshell cottagers after damaging thunderstorm

'Could have been a lot worse,' say Whiteshell cottagers after damaging thunderstorm

Clean-up in the area continued Tuesday as Environment Canada probes tornado reports

Lisa McBride is no stranger to hunkering down during storms at her cottage at McDougalls Landing in Manitoba's Whiteshell.

But on Monday, the wind and rain quickly turned into a "ferocious" tempest that could have left her injured.

"The weather just seems to be changing on a dime," she said in an interview with CBC on Tuesday. "So fast you can really see it when you're on the lake from the water direction moving."

Standing under the door of her guest cottage, McBride was trying to videotape some of the hail falling during the storm when she heard a crash.

"The next thing I knew there were major branches and tree limbs right practically in my face," she said. "A huge tree had actually crashed over top of the guest cottage, which I thought I was safe in."

"My first thought was, 'this building's coming down on me,'" she said.

The tree was one of several downed by a storm that rolled through southeast Manitoba near the Ontario border on Monday afternoon.

Environment and Climate Change Canada said the severe weather event brought strong winds in areas of the Whiteshell Provincial Park.

McBride said the tree was cut down with a chainsaw and removed from the roof of her guest cottage, located in the north corner of West Hawk Lake. Neighbors joined in to help on Tuesday as the area about 140 kilometres east of Winnipeg cleaned up.

"Everybody wants to come and help right away," she said. "Even without asking we had seven adults helping take this big tree off."

The storm also hit nearby Caddy Lake where Priscilla Downey weathered the rain and wind, sheltering inside a trailer at a seasonal campsite.

"It was just like a wall of water. It was very intense. You could hardly see the trailers across. Then the wind picked up," she said.

Downey said she watched a tree take another down, coming to a trailer site where a vehicle was parked before the storm. More branches and trunk fell, some blocking roads to the campsite, but her fears were up in the clouds.

"I was watching the sky just in case a tornado did come. I know that it could easily pick up and spin the trailer," Downey said. "It was a bit unnerving."

As of Tuesday evening, Environment and Climate Change Canada said no tornados have been confirmed, but reports are still being investigated.

The Crown weather agency also has no confirmation yet of rainfall amounts from the storm.

About 60 kilometres east in Kenora, 94 mm of rain were recorded, but the weather agency said rain was likely stronger in Ontario, where widespread flooding was recorded.

Downey said in Caddy Lake the storm lasted for about 40 minutes and while there were a "couple close calls," most in the area where she was staying came out of it unscathed.

"Thankfully we were far enough away that no big part of any trees landed on us."

Stephen Andrew is also relieved the storm wasn't as destructive as it could have been.

While a trunk fell into his family cottage in Caddy Lake, he said other tree branches prevented it from slamming though the property.

"That pretty much saved the edge of our roof for sure," Andrew said. "There wasn't any significant damage, fortunately."

He said the storm rolled in swiftly — within about 10 minutes thunder flipped to intense rain and wind gusts Andrew said he has not seen in more than 40 years of visiting the cottage.

"Just imagine the rain and wind being so strong that it was literally flying horizontal. Then the whitecaps on the lake were big enough that they were actually submerging our dock," he said.

Alerts were issued for people to seek shelter but only after the downpour had already begun. CBC has reached to the province seeking information on any injuries related to the storm.

The storm left several downed trees, some uprooted from the grounds. Andrew said removing the branches and downed foliage scattered on the ground has taken hours.

"I am feeling a little bit tired today cleaning everything but also … we got away unscathed. [It] could have been a lot worse, right?," he said.

Santiago Arias Orozco is a journalist with CBC Manitoba currently based in Winnipeg. He previously worked for CBC Toronto and the Toronto Star. You can reach him at santiago.arias.orozco@cbc.ca.