Homes damaged, trees uprooted in Winnipeg thunderstorm being investigated as possible tornado

Winnipeg residents are dealing with damaged homes and cleaning up fallen trees and debris after a severe thunderstorm passed over the city Monday night.

Several homes in Winnipeg’s Whyte Ridge neighbourhood received damage from high winds that the Northern Tornadoes Project is investigating as a possible tornado.

“Just the nature of the damage, it’s typical of what you see with, you know, weak, weak tornadoes that sort of come through,” said John Hanesiak, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Manitoba who works with the Northern Tornadoes Project.

A tornado has not been officially confirmed as of Tuesday.

Brian Proctor, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said some rotation was observed on the radar as the storm passed over Winnipeg’s southwest.

“Unfortunately, from a wind gust point of view, it missed most of our station area that sort of reported anything, but in general terms, we would estimate from radar, sort of wind gusts of 90 kilometre hour-plus were very possible along that squall line,” he said.

Proctor said he would not be surprised to see “some kind of vortex” associated with this storm.

‘Still shocking’

Images from the scene show wrecked fences, uprooted trees and a garage partially collapsed.

Bob Matthes’ home was damaged by the storm.

“It was like in a movie; things were flying by, likely all the shingles from the neighbours’ houses,” he said on Tuesday. “Then I looked out and my tree is gone, and it looks like it came down this way and then spun around. Then (the wind) picked up some kind of water cooler and smashed it through the front window and the glass throughout the whole house.”

Colton Smith, 15, said he was at home relaxing when the storm hit.

“I just heard like an insanely loud noise, kind of like a train going through the backyard, and house alarm goes off,” he said. “I come upstairs, I see this tree cross my backyard, my neighbor’s shed is in my backyard, all the fences are down. Just chaos.”

He added, “It’s just still shocking that it actually happened right here in the city, and in my backyard.”

Tree damage keeping crews busy

The City of Winnipeg said Tuesday that most calls for service related to the storm have been due to damaged trees.

A spokesperson for the city said as of 2 p.m., crews have responded to 328 calls for downed or damaged trees.

City crews have also responded to 29 calls for plugged catch basins in front streets and 19 sewer backup calls—10 for clean water and nine for raw sewage.

“We very much appreciate the patience of residents,” said Mike Olczyk, emergency management coordinator with the city. “City crews are working very hard to get out and resolve issues as quickly as they can be resolved.”

The City of Winnipeg was also soaked from Monday night’s thunderstorm, according to data from the city’s water and waste department.

The highest concentration of rainfall at city lift stations was felt in the city’s north. Arthur E. Wright School lift station had the most rain, with 57.6 mm, followed by 48.6 mm at the King Edward Lift Station, 45.4 mm at the West Kildonan Library lift station, and 44 mm at the McPhillips Pump Station.

Olczyk said residents can report issues related to storm damage by calling 311.

With files from CTV’s Harrison Shin