Two tornadoes on the Prairies, but were there three?
Digital Reporter
Sunday, July 6, 2014, 11:03 AM - Two tornadoes that touched down in Saskatchewan near the communities of Kenaston and Outlook grabbed all the attention in yesterday afternoon's severe weather outbreak.
But while Environment Canada did confirm those two twisters in an early morning bulletin Sunday, it also says a third tornado occurred in Manitoba, around 1 km west of Hartney, Man.
Environment Canada has not rated any of these tornadoes, but it does report nickel and golf-ball sized hail near Hartney around the time the Manitoba twister was spotted, and also say a combine header was moved around 70 m.
No deaths have been reported as a result of the storms that produced the tornadoes, but two people on a farm in Outlook, Sask., are lucky to be alive after a tornado destroyed the two buildings they were hiding in separately.
"@jess_kubashek: Tornado that touched down north of Outlook at our farm #skstorm #scary pic.twitter.com/u48ujkIPgD" we hope everyone stays safe!
— Jeff McConnell (@virdenmayor) July 5, 2014
Ray Derdal told the Canadian Press he and his son, who is 27, managed to escape without injury.
"It was just a direct hit. It took a 100-year-old barn that we were fixing up. It took the Quonset and it took the shop. It took the windows out of the house," said Derdal.
Ray Derdal's barn, shed we're totaled by a tornado that touched down north of Outlook this afternoon #skstorm #spnews pic.twitter.com/8qRNPwDuAJ
— Andrea Hill (@MsAndreaHill) July 6, 2014
Environment Canada was able to confirm the Outlook and Kenaston tornadoes due to numerous eyewitnesses who reported touchdowns.
One, Ole Remmen, said he and his brother watched the Kenaston tornado as it passed, adding the damage it caused wasn't serious.
"It went past the north end of town, blew through the cemetery and knocked down a couple of trees," Remmen told the Canadian Press.
The storms that produced the twisters were severe, dropping hail as large as baseball-sized in several locations, as well as producing several funnel clouds.
Ominiously, one funnel cloud was spotted around 10 km south of Elie, Man., which in 2007 was the site of Canada's only reported F5 tornado, which boasted winds of more than 420 km/h but did not kill or seriously injure a single person.
WATCH: One of our viewers sent in a shot of the Kenaston tornado as it moved past the town. See the incredible video below.
