‘It was deliverance, that’s what it was’: Long Plain hit hardest by powerful storm

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/07/2016 (3596 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LONG PLAIN FIRST NATION — Dozens of homes were destroyed or badly damaged, vehicles crushed or flipped over, sheds ripped to shreds and trees snapped in half on the Long Plain First Nation after a tornado ripped through the community southwest of Portage la Prairie on Wednesday evening.

In addition to the powerful winds, the vicious storm brought with it black skies, driving rain, peals of thunder and electrifying flashes of lightning.

A transformer exploded, cutting power to the community, a roof on one house was completely sheared off, one house was lifted off its foundation and moved about three metres, numerous other homes had severe roof, siding or window damage and several vehicles were flipped or on their sides.

Amazingly, there were no injuries to people living there.

“It (the damage) is quite widespread,” said Chief Dennis Meeches. “We have a very large First Nation and well over 2,200 people live on the reserve. We have 47 homes that are severely damaged, a lot of homes moderately damages but there is extensive damage all over.”

Chief Meeches said band staff was able to establish an emergency relief centre in the Spirit Lodge, where many displaced families (about 20 have no homes to go back to) were able to spend the night and get temporary aid. Families — about 150 people in all — are being housed in hotels in Portage la Prairie and Winnipeg.

“There’s quite a few of the homes that don’t have crawl spaces where they can seek shelter so that’s quite concerning,” said the chief.

Power is out indefinitely in the community.

Power still out for thousands

In fact, more than 30,000 customers lost power in “pockets” of southern Manitoba after Wednesday night’s violent storm. By noon, that number was cut in half as Manitoba Hydro had called in additional staff on an emergency basis to help fix poles and transformers hit by lightning, remove trees off lines and get electricity flowing again.

“We appreciate the patience of customer today,” said Hydro spokesman Bruce Owen. “This was a huge storm that cut a swath through parts of Manitoba and caused widespread damage.”

In Winnipeg, the roof of an apartment building on Sinclair Street was sheared off, and there were reports of severe damage to dwellings in rural areas.

But, undoubtedly, Long Plain was hit the hardest. A number of people said they believed three different tornadoes whipped through the community.

Frieda Meeches and her husband John Boyd, driving home when the storm began to intensify, pulled over and believe the Long Plain band office sheltered their car from the wind.

When they got home, their house had been torn from its foundation and was completely destroyed and their truck crushed and flipped on its side.

“It’s a total loss, this was our first home and we had so many plans of what we were going to do fixing it up. Now I don’t know what we’re going to do,” said Frieda Meeches. She and her husband just moved back to Long Plain and got the house a month ago after many years living in Winnipeg while their children went to school.

“It’s really hard to see. The wind has so much power. The wind has power over everybody. It has power in your heart and your spirit too. If it damages your stuff, it affects your spirit,” Frieda said. “I’m not feeling too good. It’s bothering me. We have no home now. We were fixing it up, the yard.”

All the renovation materials they bought were destroyed by the storm, including a stack of ceramic tiles for the bathroom floor and a new area rug. They were amazed to find their cats alive, including a kitten that weathered the storm inside a closet. She and John slept in their car on Wednesday night in front of their ruined home.

‘A wall of water’

Clemance Assiniboine sat in a lawn chair behind his house along with his niece Chastity Assiniboine and her sister-in-law Lisa Mason on Thursday morning surrounded by the chaos left behind by the storm the night before. Around 6 p.m. Wednesday, the high winds tore the roof off the kitchen of his modest bungalow while he huddled with his beloved nine-year-old dog, a white poodle cross named Baby, in a bedroom on the other side of the house. His home doesn’t have a basement.

“It took the roof and I thought it was going to take me too. Oh man, it (the storm) went fast. It went fast like a jet. I knew something was wrong,” Clemance said. In his house for 18 years and 68 years old, he said he had “never anything like this before.”

He didn’t get much sleep as he only went to the Spirit Lodge briefly because he didn’t want to leave his dog.

Clemance had to talk his wife Eunice, in Saskatchewan visiting family, out of driving home Wednesday night.

“She started crying and I said, don’t cry, my love, have a good sleep and have a good rest because you have a long drive in the morning,” he said. 

Watching TV in their house on Wednesday evening, Chastity said her brother Waylon told her and Lisa that he could see a funnel cloud.

“My brother saw, right in front, on the right side, he said the clouds don’t look right, they’re low and there’s churning. Get in the basement,” Chastity said. “When we were down there, we could hear all the cracking and crashing. Me and her (Lisa) were just hugging each other, It was so scary.”

The destruction was not limited to homes as a path of giant trees were snapped in half. Organic debris and items from peoples’ homes are strewn about the community.

Peter Yellowquill said the tornado cut a swath threw his property, snapping giant white pine trees, but his family home and prayer house were shockingly untouched and safe. The broken trees created what looked like a canopy over the two houses.

“It was deliverance, that’s what it was,” Yellowquill said. “It was a tornado for sure, and it literally jumped the house. The trees fell around the house but nothing is touching the house. It was really wild. It was like a wall of water.”

Meanwhile, Yellowquill’s nephew, Eddie Houle, and his family had to be relocated as the storm tore the entire roof off his home, scattering the pieces over a block a way.

The chief said the antenna for the community’s radio station was flattened and the station is off air.

He said community leaders were planning to meet today with representatives from Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada and the regional director general to develop a plan to assist residents.

Band insurance will replace many houses but most people whose homes were damaged did not have contents insurance and lost many or all of their possessions.

A spokeswoman in the Minister’s office in Ottawa says federal Indigenous Affairs officials are working with the community.

The chief said he “had never seen anything like it,” adding people are likely looking at three to five months before homes can be rebuilt or repaired. 

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca