'It was so loud': Western Manitoba going over damage caused by toonie-sized hail

People in western Manitoba are tallying the damage after a series of severe storms hit the regionWednesdaynight.

The storms spawned tornado warnings throughwestern Manitoba and has residents running for cover.Baseball-sized hail and a tornado left damagein the town ofAlida, Sask.

In Birtle, Man., located about 280 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg near the Saskatchewan border, hail up to the size of golf balls was recorded. The storm moved through town starting at about7:30 p.m., and was part of a storm that Environment Canada issued several tornado alerts for.

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Sandi Gerwing was sitting on her deck last night when she noticed some ominous clouds moving into the area. After going inside, hail started to pelt the ground.

Gerwing said the hail, which was up to the size of toonies, damaged her truck and the onions she had planted in her garden. She said while the hail did leave its mark on the town, she feels lucky a tornado didn't touch down there.

At Mainline Motors, a car dealership in Birtle, all 65 vehicles that were out on the lot were damaged by hail.

"Obviously it's an act of nature you can't really control it," said manager Robert Bicknell. "There's no point in crying over spilled milk."

Bicknellwas at homeWednesdaynight and was first alerted to the storm by hail hitting the tin roof of his apartment. He looked outside toward the dealership and saw hail ranging from pea to golf ball size pelting the vehicles and anything thatwasn't covered.

Thursday morning, he was inspecting the damage.

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"We're just starting the insurance process right now," he said. "Basically anything that wasn't inside has damage now but luckily that's what we have insurance for."

He said dealership would pull vehicles to sell from another lot for the time being. All of the vehicles that were damaged can't be sold until they are repaired.

"I mean it is a loss for us but at the same time it's not going to keep us from moving forward," he said.

The storms died off aroundmidnight, Environment Canada said.

Severe storms hit Western Manitoba

7 years ago

Duration 1:28

People in western Manitoba are tallying the damage after a series of severe storms hit the region Wednesday night.