Sask. farmer says Wednesday storm may have many farmers filing insurance claims

A significant storm hit southern Saskatchewan Wednesday night,which was bad for farmers and their crops.

The storm wasthanks to a low pressure system in Montana, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada. There were a number of tornado warnings issued, but no reports of touchdowns.

Some areas saw wind gusts over 100 kilometres an hour. Others were hit with golf ball-sized hail.

Wild weather was in action last week as well, according to the latest provincial crop report.

"A few areas received severe storms which produced heavy rain and hail, causing extensive crop damage," said Meghan Rosso, crops extension specialistfor the province, of the period between Aug. 13 and 19.

"Areas that have seen hail damage reported by crop reporters for the week include areas within the southeast region, including Weyburn, in and around the Broadview area, Moose Jaw, up through the east central region, as well as isolated areas closer to Rosetown."

Rosso said some producers in Lloydminister and Prince Albertreported some hail damage as well.

Troy Weppler's farm60 kilometres west of Swift Current was spared.

"We've managed to avoid most of the hail storms here in our area of the province," Weppler said.

But Weppler knows what it's like to lose crops due to bad weather. He said thatmany farmers in southern Saskatchewanwill make crop insurance claimsdue to the hail.

Adjusters will be sent in to assess the damage, and depending on the scope of the hail storm, it can be difficult for them to cover all the ground. Weppler saidsometimes they even call in adjusters from other parts of the province or other provinces."

"This time of year when everything's so ripe, they could probably come out and write it off right away. Sometimes when it's earlier in the season and the crop is immature enough, a lot of times it can bounce back and they're a little hesitant to cut you the cheque then and will wait."

Rough conditions overall

Weather conditions in Saskatchewan are different this year than they were last year, according to Rosso.

"Typically we're used to seeing hailstorms a little bit earlier on inthe growing season. So some of the the hail damage that is occurring now will have quite hard effects on crops as they're reaching maturity throughout the province," she told CBC.

Meanwhile, Weppler said farmers like himself have had many ups and down in the past handful of months.

"It started off dry. We had virtually zero snowpack coming up. A very dry previous year," Weppler said.

He saidMay and June were good months for the land and crops.

"They caught timely rains and everything was looking pretty good. They maybe had a little bit too easy. And then July hit and it was just, I don't know how many days there was under 30 degrees. But there wasn't very many and we just couldn't catch a storm or a shower or anything."

Next week's crop report will show the impact Wednesday's hail storm had on crops in this province. In the meantime, Weppler thinks many will be making insurance claims due in part to hail.

"I think at this time of year with most of the crops being quite ripe, I think it's going to be a write off for a lot of guys."