Cypress River family recounts tornado that ripped through their farm

Hundreds still in the dark after storm Sarah Plowman on the damage caused by a violent Manitoba storm, and why hundreds are still without power.

Chad Berry was driving home Wednesday evening when he witnessed a tornado moving toward his Cypress River farm.

He pulled his truck into a ditch and waited for it to pass.

“It started raining hard enough after a while and I couldn’t see it any longer,” he said, “My truck was bouncing and rattling. So I just stayed there, put my seatbelt on.”

When Berry arrived home, near Glenboro, he could not believe the damage to his yard.

The antenna attached to his home was snapped in half, his barn was uprooted off its foundation and his camper was tilted.

“There’s a small shed in behind,” Jackie Berry, Chad’s wife said, “It’s in the canola field about a quarter of a mile away.”

Still, the Berry’s consider themselves lucky.

“The garden shed is ten feet away and it did not hit the house,” Jackie said.

Environment Canada confirmed two tornadoes touched down in Manitoba Wednesday night. A brief tornado was reported near Margaret at 5:10 p.m. and a larger longer lived tornado was reported 10 kilometers west of Baldur at 5:20 p.m. and tracked north toward Stockton where it destroyed a large shed.

Environment Canada said it is also investigating reports of an unconfirmed tornado near Morden. They ask anyone who has video, or photos of the storm in the Morden area to contact them (call: 1-800-239-0484, or email: [e-mail]).

On Thursday hundreds of residents in the Morden area were without power. Winds gusting up to 111 km/h knocked down trees, power poles and left lots of cleanup to be done.