‘Pretty scary’: Trees, vehicles damaged during storm in southwest Edmonton

Edmontonians are cleaning up after a windstorm roared through the city on Thursday night. CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson has the latest.

Matthew Norminton is thankful that a tree in his yard fell away from his home while he and his son were watching the hockey game Thursday evening when a wind storm blew through southwest Edmonton.

“It’s obviously a bit of a mess,” said Norminton Friday.

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The spruce tree looked as if it had been snapped in half like a pencil. There was also damage done to the roof of his garage.

“It was pretty scary.”

City of Edmonton crews were in the area cleaning other fallen trees and debris.

High wind alerts were sent at 7:24 p.m. Thursday from Environment Canada, warning people of “destructive winds,” and to shelter in a basement or interior room if a weather threat approaches.

Wind speeds in parts of Edmonton reached 115 to 135km/h.

• Record heat across Alberta Thursday, 2 tornadoes confirmed from Monday’s storms

Norminton said he didn’t receive the alert until after his tree had snapped.

Valerie Neudorf, another resident of the Brookside neighbourhood in southwest Edmonton, was also watching the Oilers game last night when she noticed it appeared dark outside.

“I walk outside and I see my neighbour next door to me, their tree snapped off. It’s like a 55-year-old tree,” said Neudorf as she was cleaning up the aftermath of the storm. “Then I went out to the sidewalk and I look further down and there was another old tree (that had fallen).”

Neudorf woke up the next morning and saw the back window of her husband’s SUV was shattered.

“The wind or something must have hit the window and shattered it,” she said.

On her front porch, Neudorf has some patio furniture with cushions. She said the cushions flew off during the storm and had landed in her backyard.

Neudorf saw the alert after the storm and said she hadn’t seen any kind of wind alert like that since the tornado in 1987, an event known in Edmonton history as Black Friday.

“We’ll never forget the tornado and what we were doing when that hit,” said Neudorf.

Two tornadoes touched down in northern Alberta Thursday night. Damage was reported to homes and wooded areas in Atmore and Avenir. Estimated wind speeds reached 175km/h.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson and Josh Classen.