Tornadoes leave trail of destruction in Manitoba
'It kept getting bigger and bigger'
Residents in the smalltown of Elie woke Saturday morningto the devastation caused by one of threetornadoes that ripped through southern Manitoba.
The worst damage was in Elie, 35kilometres west of Winnipeg, wherea tornadostruck at about 6:30 p.m., destroying four homes and a flour mill. Two other homes were seriously damaged, along with agrain elevator.
There were no reports ofinjuries.
It was a sight that Violet Enns could never haveimagined — atwister just beyond her farm house. Shepicked up her camera and stood in awe.
"It started touching down andpicking up stuff and things were flying, and it kept getting bigger and bigger," she said.
"Isaw a big purple cloud with a pointy bitcoming down. Itgrew super wide, the entire sky was swirling above our car," Cayer said. "Hail sounded like golf clubs pounding our car. Everyone stopped on the road."
The tornado angled away and crossed the highway, where it damaged a flour mill, one of the big employers in the town. A number of cars were swept away.
Tornado ripped through power lines
"Itwent through town and I saw the houses blow up around our car, saw stuff swirling round and round," Cayer said. The wind was green because trees were ripped apart and there were huge explosions when it hit hydro."
The RCMP and fire commissioner's office secured the scene and made sure all the residents were accounted for.
Reeve Roland Rasmussen said it's shocking to think a whole area of town was destroyed in what seemed like only one minute.
"It'sa typical small community — everyone helps everyone out. It'll work out in the long run, but right now it's devastating and shocking," he said.
Len Kindred was at the Elie Hotel when he saw the tornado touch down.
"It was like a freight train, an old steam engine coming down ... and it was howling, and we could just see it was collecting birds, shingles, you name it,going up like thousands of feet in the air."
Policeare warning people to stay away from the destruction zone because of downed power lines and ruptured natural gas pipes.