F3 tornado confirmed in Saskatchewan

Viewer Video image of tornado near Raymore, SK

It has been confirmed. The tornado that ripped through the Kawacatoose reserve near the town of Raymore, Saskatchewan Friday has been rated an F3 on the Fujita scale, which means peak winds at around 330km/h.

That's stronger than originally anticipated, but after surveying the damage it was upgraded to an F3. In less than a minute the powerful tornado tore dozens of homes and farms to shreds Friday. Vehicles were also overturned and about 70 people were forced to leave their homes.

“The total distance on the ground is probably in the 45 to 50 kilometre range along the ground and some portions appear to have tornadic type damage as much as 500 metres wide,” explains Environment Canada meteorologist Dan Kulak.

Officials say an F3 is a unique case as less than five percent of the tornadoes in Canada each year are measured at that scale.

Rain floods Yorkton parking lot Thursday

Meanwhile, residents in Yorkton, Saskatchewan are dealing with their own set of problems.

A state of emergency was declared last Thursday after heavy rain flooded streets in waist-deep water. Emergency officials say about 1,000 of the city's approximately 5,000 homes were damaged by the flooding. James Wilson is the town's Mayor and says this summer has been a strange one indeed.

“I don't recall ever seeing this transpire. Maybe you'd have the odd storm throughout the Prairies here, but it seems to be day after day we're in this cycle of weather,“ says Wilson.

A public meeting was held on Sunday to discuss how to apply for disaster assistance and how to do a safe and healthy cleanup.

While most are hoping for a change in the current trend across the Prairies, the onslaught of active weather is expected to continue. There's a risk for some isolated severe thunderstorms along the Alberta and Saskatchewan border Tuesday. The greatest threat with these storms will be hail and strong winds.

For local weather forecasts in your area, click our Canadian Cities Index. You can also get information on the weather in your area by tuning into The Weather Network on TV. The National Forecast comes up at the top and bottom of each hour.

With files from CTV Regina, The Canadian Press and Jill Colton.