Regina hit with toonie to golf ball-sized hail during severe storm

Regina saw golf ball-sized hail and localized flooding as severe storms swept southeastern Saskatchewan, where a tornado was also reported. Mick Favel has more.

Several parts of southeastern Saskatchewan were hit with extreme weather on Tuesday, including a reported tornado touching down near Oxbow. Regina didn’t come out unscathed either, as many residents reported seeing toonie to golf ball-sized hail.

“The siding on the house is all chipped away,” Frances Waterfield, a homeowner in the Regina Uplands neighbourhood said. “The big garage door is all pelted. I was hoping my front window wouldn’t have gotten broken. Thank God I got it replaced just last year.”

According to a weather summary from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) on Wednesday, localized flooding was also reported in Regina.

“You can see that the water went all the way up,” Joan Ellis, a volunteer at the Evangelical Free Church said. “Halfway up the lawn [the water] carried leaves and rubbish. I am glad it didn’t go right up to the door, otherwise we would have had trouble.”

Both Weyburn and Indian Head reported about 30 millimetres of rain, ECCC said. Wind gusts reaching 85 km/h were also reported in Yorkton and Estevan.

“We’ve seen this a few times before in heavy storms where we get tornado warning or watches that animals become injured. In most cases, they know to go somewhere safe and to get shelter but sometimes, they are caught off guard,” Megan Lawrence, the director at Salthaven West said.

Since the storm, Jeremy Pilon, a communication consultant at SGI, said they have received over 2,000 calls for vehicle claims, along with 200 more for home damages.

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“We know that wait times are going to be long,” he said. “There are only so many adjusters around. But what we are doing is planning what we call an appraisal blitz so that people can come through and get their appraisal done really quickly.”

Several viewers submitted videos and photos of the storm to CTV News.