PHOTOS: Path of damage left by tornado in southwest Manitoba

As the sun rose in southwest Manitoba Tuesday morning, it revealed the wide path of destruction left by a strong tornado the night before.

Lana Shaw is the research manager of the South East Research Farm at Redvers across the border. On Monday night, she watched the storm pass over the farm on its way over the border.

“It was just a little ways south, probably 10 kilometres away from us where the tornadoes started hitting.”

Saskatchewan storm chaser Jenny Andrew saw the tornado in action. She began her chase early in the day and came up behind the twister after it hit the ground.

“We were just behind the tornado. We missed it by about two minutes and came up onto the damage path shortly after. One farm – the trees were flattened, the shop was flattened. But nobody was home at the time, luckily.”

Along with a partner, Andrew continued following the storm. She said the clouds over them were rotating, with funnel clouds popping up around them.

“The wind was howling to start with but when we were out taking pictures and stuff, it was quiet and still. Just the sky, the energy there (gave you) goose bumps on your arm.”

They decided to call off their chase at Virden.

“When we left, it was kind of odd because the whole highway was just littered with frogs. There was thousands of them!”

Unable to get into the field Tuesday morning, Shaw and some of her colleagues at the research farm decided to take a drive and check out the damage from the storm. The first thing Shaw said she noticed was trees stripped of their leaves and crops flattened to the ground.

“Bits of bins stuck in the fences, some of the fence wire pulled out,” Shaw described.

The visible damage stretched half a mile wide where Shaw could see trees pulled up by the roots. She drove by a farmyard where she saw trees resting on top of the house, but there were also a number of vehicles there. She said neighbours had already showed up ready to help clean up the mess left over from the storm.

Ashley Raynor was at that farm near Tilston. It’s her grandparent’s home. Although she wasn’t there when the storm hit, Raynor’s grandparents told her what it was like.

“All you could hear was a big freight train coming,” she recounted. By the time Raynor arrived at the home, it looked like every tree had fallen over.

Raynor said three of the sheds and most of the corrals were gone.

“The equipment’s still there, but not the shed.”

Her grandparents also lost 300 chickens and one sheep.

Although many surrounding fields are now lodged, Shaw doesn’t expect it to take long for things to get back to the way they were.

“This land is very resilient … in a few months, you won’t be able to tell out in the fields where that tornado went through.”

With files from News Talk Radio’s Adriana Christianson.

CMarkewich@rawlco.com
Follow on Twitter: @cjmarkewich

Post-tornado south of Tilston MN #Mnstorm pic.twitter.com/VU0UNjZzgM

— Lana at SE Research (@SE_ResearchFarm) July 28, 2015

Municipality of Edward south of Tilston post tornado. #MNStorm pic.twitter.com/MhL5EVEfui

— Lana at SE Research (@SE_ResearchFarm) July 28, 2015

House and farmyard damaged south of Tilston. #MNStorm pic.twitter.com/zraG8asd1F

— Lana at SE Research (@SE_ResearchFarm) July 28, 2015