‘That was a gut punch for me’

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This article was published 25/08/2024 (575 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Residents of a southwestern Manitoba community are picking up the pieces after a storm system ripped through town Sunday, shearing the roof off of the local arena.

The hamlet of Foxwarren — located around 110 kilometres northwest of Brandon, near the Saskatchewan border — was one of several communities battered by severe weather that toppled trees, flattened crops and caused power outages in the Westman and Parkland regions.

“I just never expected to see anything like this,” Danny Johnston said, describing how high winds “unravelled the roof” of the Foxwarren Arena and “folded it up like a towel.”

“That was a gut punch for me, this was literally the pillar of the community. It’s always been a hockey town,” Johnston said.

A notice from the province asked motorists to avoid Provincial Road 475 at the Foxwarren Access Road, where all lanes were closed around 11 a.m. Pictures show large sections of the metal roofing blocking the roadway.

Foxwarren is known as the home of several former National Hockey League players — including Ron Low, Pat Falloon and Mark Wotton — whose names are advertised on the town’s welcome sign.

The arena still played host to hockey games and was one of few attractions remaining in the town of less than 100 people said Patrick Graham, whose grandfather helped build the structure in 1949.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Graham said, describing the loss as “horrible for the community.”

Johnston agreed, saying he and other residents had tears in their eyes as they assessed the damaged building.

“It’s a pretty tough pill to swallow. We were in the rink there, looking at all our championship banners and stuff and it hit home. You just start thinking about all the good memories there. This is all we had growing up, it was the only thing still holding this community together.”

The storm system originated in Montana and developed into a bow echo storm — a classification given to storms driven forward by high winds, causing them to appear in the form of an archer’s bow on weather radars, Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Kyle Ziolkowski said.

After sweeping through the southeastern corner of Saskatchewan, it struck St. Lazare around 6 a.m., where a weather station logged wind speeds of up to 106 km/h. Wind speeds elsewhere, such as those experienced in Foxwarren, may have been much higher, Ziolkowski said

“We are estimating (wind speeds were) at least in the 130 to 150 km/h range, but that’s just an estimate. We are still trying to gather data here and figure everything out,” he said.

“It’s definitely a significant event for southwestern Manitoba.”

The system travelled northeast, with windspeeds slowing slightly before settling near Dauphin.

Manitoba Hydro’s outage map showed unplanned power outages spanning from St. Lazare to Roblin, with most expected to be resolved before Monday.

Ziolkowski said high heat and humidity contributed to the inclement weather, and may cause further storms throughout the day Sunday. The humidity was expected to ease by Monday, giving southern Manitoba an opportunity to dry out, he said.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca