Storm rips through Nightingale

Melissa Strle
Times Reporter

 

The storm that caused havoc during the Strathmore Stampede and Heritage Days left its mark on the surround community as well.
On Saturday, July 30, a major storm ripped through the Hamlet of Nightingale and caused severe damage to local properties and farms.
The area was buffeted with strong wind gusts that uprooted trees, grain bins and trampolines.
Christine Abel lives on an acreage in Nightingale and said the storm picked up five grain bins and rolled them close to her property. She said one grain bin almost hit her house.
“I saw grain bins rolling down the road and trees snapping in front and then we looked out the back, my husband and I, and saw a grain bin come right straight for the house and it just missed the house by like 10 feet,” she said.
According to Abel, nothing in the area outside was safe unless it was tied down.
“Trampolines went flying. Everything went flying,” she said. “Whatever was not tied down went flying.”
Farmers experienced crop damage during the storm. The farm on the Nightingale corner of Secondary Hwy 564 and Range Road 245 experienced extensive damage to its crop and other areas. Abel said, “They lost the roof of their barn. Their kid’s playhouse went flying. Their sheep scattered. Yes, it was pretty bad out there.”
Farmers in the area will be facing major expenses from this storm.
“They are going to be hit the hardest,” said Abel.
Kirk Torneby, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said 85 km/h wind gusts were recorded in the Strathmore area on July 30.
However, some locals say the wind was clocked at 113 km/h with hail.
“Severe weather across southern Alberta, lots of instability in the atmosphere and lots of other triggers going on led to a pretty good outbreak of severe thunderstorms that moved across the southern part of the province,” said Torneby. “Hail and wind were the bigger of the damages associated with the storm.”