A tornado that briefly touched down in the Lakeland over the weekend is being called minor and thankfully resulted in no injuries. The tornado came about when a severe storm system made its way through the area on Saturday afternoon. The storm produced hail, winds and lots of rain for most of the Lakeland.
Just after 3 pm, Regional Director of Emergency Management for St. Paul County Rob Duffy says he got the call.
“It was just around 3:15 on Saturday when I received a call that confirmed we had a tornado touch down just to the west of the Saddle Lake Area.”
Messages to seek shelter were broadcast through the Alberta Emergency Alert System. Duffy says thankfully, the twister wasn’t on the ground long and no one was hurt.
“It wasn’t a very big one. It wasn’t down very long. It didn’t do a whole lot of damage. There were some trees that were knocked down and there was also an empty silo that was knocked over.”
The critical alert was canceled at about 4:23 pm. Environment Canada is now investigating to confirm that a tornado did in fact touch down. The potential for the severe weather had many storm chasers covering the scene, including some from as far as the United States