Tornadoes, golf ball

Tornadoes, golf ball-sized hail hit Saskatchewan over the weekend

April Hutchins says a tornado had her trees 'spinning'

April Hutchins watched from her home as a tornado ripped through her yard on Sunday evening.

"I honestly thought we were going to die," said Hutchins, who lives on an acreage about six kilometres south of Pelly, Sask., with her husband Ken.

The storm took out their large shop, garage and several trees in the yard.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has confirmed that there was a tornado near the village of Pelly, Sask., on Sunday around 6 p.m. CST.

ECCC is investigating alongside the Northern Tornadoes Project, a group with Western University that helps with detection and investigation of tornadoes throughout Canada.

Hutchins said the couple had just settled in for a movie after supper when they heard the storm howling.

"It wasn't even like a half-hour later, just heard really loud rumbling and looked out the window and it was like somebody just flicked the switch and my trees are like spinning," she said.

"I went to the door where my husband was and sure enough, the shop is gone."

She said it took both of them pulling as hard as they could to open their door to let their dogs in.

Hutchins said no one was hurt and their house was relatively unscathed, although the storm took some shingles off their roof.

She said she's grateful for their family and community's support as they try to clean up.

There have been multiple reports of serious damage to buildings in the area and several power lines were knocked down during the storm.

Bill Gade, reeve for the nearby RM of Swan Valley West, Man., chased the storm with his kids, ages 17 and 14.

"I said to the kids, 'Well, let's follow those clouds and just see what exactly happens next, because maybe we'll see something interesting,'" Gade said.

"I was fairly sure it had passed and was gone. So we started going again and ended up catching up to the thing as it crossed the highway in front of us."

Gade, who is also the emergency co-ordinator for his RM, said he followed his training by checking in on people affected by the tornado.

"I talked to the people there, to make sure they were as OK as they could be. Pretty shaken up, as you could imagine," said Gade.

"The first house we stopped at, the gentleman took me out for a minute in his yard and showed me where he used to have a garage, and there was nothing left except some lawnmowers and stuff that hadn't blown away. And his farm shop was completely gone too, and you can see a piece of it in his trees."

Gade said those were the worst losses he saw, but there were also roofs stripped of shingles and a tipped over fifth-wheel camper.

Another tornado spotted in area

A second tornado was reported outside of Stornoway, Sask.

"That one was early evening, so it was at 6:10 p.m.," said Janelle Gergely, a meteorologist with ECCC. "The Northern Tornado Project has already confirmed and they're sending a team out today to investigate and rate how strong that tornado was."

ECCC monitored a series of extreme weather events over the weekend, including torrential downpours, tornadoes and hail — with more possible this week.

Quarter-sized chunks of hail were also reported near Burgis Beach, Sask., around 4 p.m. CST, and golf ball-sized hail was reported near North Portal about an hour later.

Several weather alerts are active Monday, including warnings for heat and air quality in the northern parts of the province as wildfire smoke passes through the area.

Gergely also warned of more heavy rains impacting some parts of the province today, with the far southeast most charged for extreme weather.

"Anywhere from 30 to 50 millimetres is always possible under an individual thunderstorm cell, and then likely some small hail is possible under there as well."

Alex Kozroski is a reporter with CBC News in Regina. He has also worked as a reporter for Golden West Broadcasting in Swift Current, Sask. He can be reached at alex.kozroski@cbc.ca