Davidson area family picks up pieces after tornado destroys farm

It’s been an emotional few days for a Saskatchewan family whose century-old farm west of Davidson was devastated by a tornado Tuesday.

The Willner family watched in horror as the twister landed in the middle of their farmyard, destroying a barn, corrals, grain bins and tossed a cattle trailer 200 feet.

The only thing left standing was the family’s home.

“It started spilling around right by our garage so we went to the basement,” recalled Wayne Willner. “We were only probably down in the basement not more than two minutes and then came back up, and it was gone. And our yard was gone.”

Even though the twister was short lived, that was all it took to destroy generations of work.

“One hundred and fifteen years and lots of 100-year-old maple trees that are ripped out right by the roots, or twisted off like you would twist off a branch,” Willner said.

Family and neighbours have pitched in to help with the massive clean up, but Willner said it will be a while before their cattle and grain farm is back to normal.

“We’re down to picking up small pieces and making a plan for fall.”

He said the silver lining was the majority their crop and equipment was untouched so they will still have a crop to harvest in the fall.

The family doesn’t yet have a handle on the damage, but estimates it could be over $200,000.

Environment Canada said the tornado was the seventh in the province this summer.