Pipestone residents work to address damage following storm that spawned possible tornado

Environment Canada said a major storm that passed through southwestern Manitoba on Saturday may have triggered a tornado. The storm caused major damage in the small community of Pipestone, Man.

People in the area said they'll never forget the powerful storm that tore through their town.

"We could feel the west wall shaking pretty bad -- so at that point we headed into the basement,” said resident Dustin Underwood.

He’s spent the last two days patching his roof, which was badly damaged by the wind.

"Rather than tarps on the roof, I wanted to get some shingles on it so at least we can work on the inside,” he said.

Once his home was patched up, he moved on to someone else’s house. Residents working to help one another is a common sight in the community of about 200.

"The morale is not low. They're keeping going. They're just fighters,” said Christine McConnell, from public works with the RM of Pipestone.

The town’s community centre was badly damaged and the hockey rink was completely levelled.

Environment Canada said that reflects incredibly high wind speeds.

"In general for something like this -  it's a broad range actually - but about 150 kilometres per hour. But it could be stronger,” said Pat McCarthy, severe weather meteorologist with Environment Canada.

McCarthy has 30 years of experience assessing weather damage. He said it's very fortunate no one was injured in the weekend storm.

"It's a widespread event...people here are very lucky there were no injuries or casualties involved,” said McCarthy.

Town officials said it’s too early to say if a new rink will be ready by winter, but they’re sure there will be no shortage of volunteers to help build one when the time comes.

"There's still smiles on faces and it is what it is, so let's just get ‘er done,” said McConnell.

A tornado touched down in Pipestone in 2007. Residents said the community bounced back then and they said things will be no different this time.

Power was restored to most of Pipestone Sunday night.

Manitoba Hydro had several crews working to help the handful of customers still without electricity on Monday.

- with a report from Ben Miljure