Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

'This kicks us when we are down'

TWIN LAKES BEACH - Permanent and seasonal residents here are picking through knocked over trees and damaged cottages for a second year after a brutal wind storm blew through on Sunday night.

Little more than a year after the rising waters of swollen Lake Manitoba inundated this cottage community, and others around the lake, it was hit again by winds clocking as high as 150 km per hour.

"This kicks us when we are down," said Briant Fransoo as he looked at his metal boathouse roof - complete with a few concrete cinder blocks from the wall, flipped over and lying on his roof.

"I never thought this would happen and the worst part is we weren't here. Thankfully my daughter and her friends are safe."

Further down the beach, June Papuga was looking at the roof of her cottage -- in her backyard.

"I just feel there is a black cloud over our heads that started last year on May 31," Papuga said.

"We are now trying to save some basic things. I don't think it is ever salvageable."

Reeve Earl Zotter, of the Rm of St. Laurent, said they have already asked the province for disaster assistance.

Zotter said he doesn't have a dollar estimate of damage, but he is glad no one was killed or injured.

"Last year we dodged a bullet with the water when we got everybody out," he said.

"We dodged another bullet (Sunday) night."

Kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

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Updated on Monday, July 30, 2012 at 6:53 PM CDT: adds video

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