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The thunderstorm that rolled through Wednesday afternoon didn’t last long, but it was intense with strong wind, lightning, heavy rain and small hail.
In Kerrobert, north of Kindersley, large hail and strong wind tore down trees and ripped siding off homes and businesses. The damage was severe enough for the town to declare a state of emergency Thursday morning.
Scroll to the bottom for a photo gallery.
Patsy Kiss, manager of the Wild Goose Motel in Kerrobert, watched the clouds roll in.
“I said to my husband and the girl working the office, ‘Oh, hoho! Are we in for one wicked hail storm,'” she said.
“It was coming from the west and I seen it coming. The clouds were just white and I thought, ‘Oh, are we gonna get it’ and we did.”
Golf-ball sized hail fell from the sky for 15 minutes combined with wind and rain. Kiss said nearly all the homes in Kerrobert have siding ripped off. She guessed that two-thirds of the homes have broken windows.
Shredded siding in Kerrobert on July 23, 2015. Brent Bosker/CKOM News
“Driving downtown, it was almost like you were driving on a bed of trees, like of leaves, because it stripped the leaves something terrible.”
Kiss said the storm also smashed the mirror on her husband’s car and damaged one of the power poles near the motel.
“It pulled the light off of the pole, put it down on our lawn, and the light was still working. The wire was still attached,” she described.
State of emergency
Kerrobert has declared a state of emergency after the storm.
“We’ve had extensive damage. We have no idea as to the amount of it. We’re just trying to get our emergency plan in place,” Maureen Applin, economic development officer with the Town of Kerrobert, said.
“Tons of property damage– massive.”
Kindersley has sent crews and a wood chipper to help. Applin said nearby Hutterite colonies have offered assistance.
Kerrobert has set up a command centre at the town office and will match volunteers with people who need help.
“That’s the beauty of small towns and the beauty of Saskatchewan. Everybody pulls together,” Applin said.
Applin was alone in at the municipal office when the windows started blowing out Wednesday night.
“I know exactly what it was like to be at the centre of the storm … I’m just really am grateful to live in a small town and see the people banding together and helping each other out.”
On Facebook the town says council will meet today to talk about the damage, but there is cleanup and restoration ahead.
“We have a big job ahead of us but I think Kerrobert can do it,” acting administrator Harold Trew in a Facebook message said.
Damage from the Kerrobert storm. Photo submitted by Theodore Halter.
Several insurance claims
A long line of people waited to make insurance claims Thursday morning. Resident Shane Molnar said the storm left some buildings looking like they were disintegrated with a machine gun.
“It sounded like there was about 40 people working on my roof, banging with hammers on my roof,” he said, adding there isn’t a house in town that wasn’t somehow damaged.
Jason Moro said the wind and hail shredded his house.
“The back of my house siding is smashed, roof is smashed, air conditioner smashed. No trees left in my yard.”
He said he heard that wind gusts got up to 115 kilometres an hour.
Three power poles came down in Regina on Wiinipeg Street, just south of 5th Avenue with two landing on a chain link fence and the other across the CN tracks. Large hail was also reported north of Prince Albert.
If you have any photos of storm damage from Wednesday, send them to webnews@rawlco.com
-With files from News Talk Radio’s Trelle Kolojay and Brent Bosker
ckomnews@rawlco.com
Follow on Twitter: @CKOMNews
Hail damage. #Kerrobert pic.twitter.com/hc1IocTeLX
— Marco (@EarlysSalesMarc) July 23, 2015
Baseball sized hail at Anglin Lake. Ouch!! @princealbertnow pic.twitter.com/MKTp7vfkb0
— nigel maxwell (@nigelmaxwell) July 23, 2015
This truck was a victim of a Severe Hailstorm in Kerrobert Weds afternoon. Smashed windshield made it hard to drive. pic.twitter.com/oHSlXWZuLs
— Rob Paquette (@RobPaquette) July 23, 2015
This is why it's not recommended to stand near windows during a #storm. Shredded wheat. #hail #kerrobert pic.twitter.com/sDQjBtGO7p
— Brando Mir (@brandomir) July 23, 2015
Storm clouds rolling in around my farm near francis @CJMENews @TiffanyGlobal @CTVReginaLive pic.twitter.com/h55ji2Ztu1
— melanie (@melanie_m37) July 22, 2015
So this just happened! #skstorm pic.twitter.com/gEik2oyVDZ
— Michelle (@RiderMommy) July 23, 2015
Road is pretty white! Heading north towards Vibank. #skstorm pic.twitter.com/W4GqGaK1GU
— Katie Vickers (@katielyn_213) July 23, 2015
@KMacTWN Video of one of the lightning strikes from earlier tonight in Foam Lake! #SKstorm pic.twitter.com/vTT7bU04sR
— Micheal Lam (@referee_11) July 23, 2015
@referee_11 @KMacTWN WOW!
— Rob Q (@robman50a) July 23, 2015
More timelapse of #skstorm moving through #yqr #regina 22Jul2015 4 PM. https://t.co/8TeThqknIU
— Dean Mitchell (@nwrweather) July 23, 2015
4:30pm swirling timelapse 16x speed https://t.co/NYVJutyLdn #yqr #Regina #skstorm
— Jared Mysko (@jaredmysko) July 22, 2015