We saw the storm rolling in. My phone was receiving the National Alert System, lighting up with a tornado warning. The clouds were swiftly moving in from the west, speeding over our valley. Looking up we could see an ominous light blue line – separating the higher, smooth clouds from the low rolling ones. Finally the clouds passed over our house and we could breathe again… And then the rain hit. There was also a golfball sized hail warning on – but we seem to get those fairly regularly and they never amount to anything. But about a minute into the rain something slams into our window, and then another… and another… It soon sounds like our window is going to shatter from the force and size of the hail. We all gather in the hallway away from the windows, just in case. Finally after three minutes or so the insane pounding begins to subside. We ran to check all of our windows – and thankfully the glass panes were still all in one piece. I looked out the front window and saw something around six feet long that almost looked like a piece of siding – but I had no idea where exactly it came from… We braved the outdoors seconds later where the thunder was still booming and went to see the damage…
A screenshot while I was on the bus on my way home from school… Something on the bus was letting out the most awful very high pitched squealing and I looked down to my phone and realized it was me. The bus ride got a little bit more stressful at that moment as I noticed the skies had the famous strange tornado tint to them.
We finally made it home and around a half hour later the rains hit. This is looking out our east facing kitchen window – where on a normal sunny day you are able to see across the valley…
We walked out after the storm to this… I tried walking on the hail barefoot but the hail was so slippery and so cold that my feet and legs began to cramp… I was kind of surprised that it was slippery – until I realized I was basically walking on balls of ice…?
A loonie and some hail in a bucket for comparison of size… I though they were big – but my friends got some softball sized hail…
Imagine walking around outside to see the damage and being horrified at the dents in our vehicles and then walking around the side of our house to see this… I told people we had half of our siding left – but I may have been exaggerating even that!
Our poor camper!!!!!! The taillights are smashed, siding dented… and worst of all – it has been written off!!!! We are still debating wether or not we should buy it back – but this honestly is the hardest part of all the damage. It was our home for a year, it traveled NA with us, and we have a lot of memories in it… Now it’s destroyed…
The worst of the damage in the camper was the bathroom fan. The hail shattered the plastic lid and ripped through the screen – littering the bathroom with plastic and hail bits.
But in all of the hail there was a little bit of beauty… Because the hail was so cold and the ground so warm there was an inversion. And when the sun broke through the clouds and lit up the steam rolling over the hills across the valley, it looked beautiful, and gave me something to smile about.
Let’s just say it’s a good thing we didn’t plant a garden this year… This used to be a blossoming rhubarb plant – the hail made it look like shredded lettuce… Thankfully it is now grown back into a huge bush and looks as healthy as ever!!!
Our corrals… You can see the hail gouges in the saturated wood, but what most likely caught your attention was the way it was ripped off the posts and leaning at a fairly dangerous angle… For some reason when I look at this picture I see art… Something that would go in a book about the prairies. Let me just mention that my dad took this photo before you all think I’m bragging…?
After having burgers because the power was out and calling insurance we headed out to see the destruction and to see if we could be of a help to any…
Our first stop was Aaron and Shawna’s. When we arrived this huge tarp was already up covering the roof because the singles had all blown away and a tree had fallen on their garage. There were trees down and branches everywhere. After dropping off the boards we had brought and seeing if they needed any more assistance we went to the Gospel Hall.
At the Hall there was a lot of work to be done. All of the windows on the west side had been broken by the hail. There was glass everywhere!
This hail was almost twice the size of the one at our house – after having a couple of hours to melt too!!!
One of the limbs off one of the trees planted in the yard at the Hall fell down… So they chainsawed some pieces and enlisted the young people to carry them over to the burn pile on the edge of the property.
This is a really awful quality of photo but it really shows how powerful the hail was. The grass was chopped up and had HUGE gouges in it – just from the force of the hail slamming into the ground!
One of the trees in the shelter belt was pushed over from the wind – even ripping the roots out of the ground!
Preparing the boards to cover the windows…
On the west side of the hall we still have boards covering where the windows used to be…
After the hall we went the the Hull’s. See the shed in the background? That used to be right behind the basketball hoop covering the darker cement pad… They also had three trees fall on their vehicle, and a bunch of other tornado damage!
After Hull’s we went to see the Logue’s… They had a barn – which only had one side standing when we got there… Their camper – as you can see – was completely flipped over… a lot of other damage was done – making what happened at our house seem much more minimal…
Our conference started the next morning at the scheduled time thanks to all of the hard work the christians put in and the donation of a couple generators. When I first arrived after school everyone was sitting in the dark because the power had gone off again… The guys from SaskPower were trying to get the power going at the hall again and so had unhooked the generators. Lets just say we rotated between generators and power all weekend…
On Friday night there was a rainbow and a beautiful sunset. Reminding me of God’s promises and love.
The Thursday after our conference a group of Christinas headed over to Aaron and Shawna’s to help them clean up their yard. They had A LOT of trees in their shelterbelt fall down so there were a lot of chainsaws going trying to make it safe again.
Jasmine, Kirsten and I had to stand on the back of the tractor to “add some weight” because the log we were trying to push was so heavy it the back tires would just come straight off the ground. Probably not the safest thing I’ve done given that if I had fallen off I would’ve got run over by the tree we were towing behind us…? But it was a fun time with lots of laughter and sweat!
Our new siding for who knows how long… Thankfully they cut away the windows so we can actually see out! My mom is excited because she now has a reason to change the colour of our house…?
It has been a month since the storm… There has been a lot of stress since then! Dealing with insurance, getting our van written off, finishing the inside of the house from the flood… Your prayers would be appreciated as we shop for a new vehicle, that we would find one that meets our needs and doesn’t cost like a bajillion bucks….? and that we wouldn’t go crazy in this process!!
So much destruction from the elements! God’s creation is mighty! So thankful that it was only things that were damaged and not people. Thanks for writing. Love Grampa and Grandma.