매니토바/위니펙 소식

매니토바주에도 강력한 토네이도가...

작성일 2007.06.25 05:50

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A day after a tornado ripped into their town, residents of Elie began sharing their stories of survival.

토네이도가 지나간 다음날 찍은 마을 풍경

A semi is on its side along the Trans-Canada Highway near Elie.

Elie 마을 근처의 캐나다 횡단 고속도로변에 아직도 그대로 있는 세미트레일러

Brave Free Press reader Wayne Hanna stood his ground to shoot this image, and others, of a tornado seen while driving down the Trans-Canada Highway Friday night.

위니펙 프리 프레스 독자 Wayne Hanna 가 찍어 보낸 토네이도 사진

지난 금요일(6월22일) 오후에 위니펙에서 45km 떨어진 Elie 라는 작은 농촌마을에 토네이도가

지나가 4채의 집과 여러채의 집에 피해를 입혔다고 합니다. 다행인 것은 인명피해가 하나도

없다고 합니다.

작년에도 매니토바주에는 조그만 토네이토가 발생해서 1명이 사망하는 일이 있었는데,

이번 Elie Tornado는 그보다 더 큰 F-4의 규모로 자동차를 들어 올릴 수 있고 나무로 만든

집의 벽을 무너뜨릴 만한 위력을 가졌다고 합니다. 토네이도증 가장 강도가 센것은 F-5로

기초를 제외한 건물을 들어 올릴 수 있는 정도라고 하니 그 위력이 정말 놀랍습니다.

6월 22일 매니토바주 남서부에서는 4~5개정도의 토네이도가 목격되었다고 합니다.

매니토바주, 위니펙시는 미국과 달리 강력한 토네이도가 없어서 안심이다고 좋아했는데,

몇년전부터 토네이도 기사가 위니펙 프리 프레스지의 전면을 채우곤 합니다.

이 모든 것이 지구온난화에 따른 기상이변이 아닌지 걱정이 됩니다.

자세한 내용은 다음의 위니펙 프리 프레스 기사를 참고하세요.

ELIE -- Premier Gary Doer toured this village 45 kilometres west of Winnipeg
Saturday morning and pledged to work with families to help them rebuild
after a strong F-4 tornado destroyed their homes Friday evening.

Doer said disaster financial assistance will be made available to the rural
municipality of Cartier.
Cartier reeve Roland Rasmussen issued a call to Manitobans to help the displaced
families any way they can.

"We need help for these families," Rasmussen told reporters.

RCMP sealed off the community Saturday morning as Manitoba Hydro crews repaired
downed power lines in the wake of Friday night's devastating tornado.
Only those who own homes in the area are allowed through.

Members of an Environment Canada storm survey team have rated the Elie tornado
as an F-4, a "strong" tornado -- meaning cars are lifted and walls are torn
from timber frame houses.

The highest classification of tornadoes is an F-5, where nothing is left of
a structure except its foundation.

The province's Emergency Measures Organization said four homes in Elie were
destroyed and three severely damaged.

Nineteen people have been displaced from their homes and damage to a nearby
flour mill will put 19 people out of work.

Meanwhile, stunned residents continue to assess the damage the tornado caused.

Lee Godin arrived at his Elie home 10 minutes before the tornado levelled his house.
Godin who lives in the home with his mother, said they escaped from the scene
to a relative's house, where eight family members took shelter by huddling
in a shower stall as the tornado ripped through the area.

Godin said the whole event lasted less than eight minutes.

Tornadoes touched down west of Winnipeg in Elie and near Oakville shortly before 7 p.m.
Friday night, ripping apart several homes and flipping over a semi-trailer
on the Trans-Canada Highway. Miraculously, no one appears to have been seriously hurt.

RCMP Cpl. Chris Ballard said, "there have been sightings all around of tornadoes
and funnel clouds, but Elie appears to be the hardest hit at this point."

The southwest end of Elie sustained the most damage.

Along the line of destruction in the tornado's path, trees were ripped to shreds, hydro poles
were pushed over and acres of fields were littered with debris from trashed houses.

RCMP Const. Allan Pasquini of the Headingley detachment said, "four houses have been completely
destroyed. Two other houses have extensive damage. As far as we know, nobody was injured and
everybody is accounted for, but we want to verify that, so the fire commissioner's office is
bringing in a dog so they can search and make sure everybody is out."

He said the tornado touched down between 6:45 and 7 p.m.

Joe Bryksa/Winnipeg Free Press

Debris from Friday's tornado litters the ground at Elie.
Lara Kauppila's parents were in one of the houses that was destroyed.

"My mom says she's just blacked it out. She doesn't remember much. She heard glass smashing
and then they went downstairs and hid. Our dog somehow amazingly lived through it.
I haven't seen our house, but from what I'm told, there's nothing left. It's gone."

About 13 kilometres south of Oakville, in the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie,
a tornado ripped through a farmyard. The house sustained minor damage, according to RCMP,
but a Quonset hut was destroyed and farm machinery was damaged.

Two semi-trailers were damaged on the Trans-Canada highway, but RCMP reported no injuries.

Pasquini warned people to keep clear of the destruction zone in Elie, where power was being
shut off last night to reduce the risk from the potentially explosive combination of downed
power lines and ruptured natural gas pipes.

"Stay away. Let us do our jobs," the officer said.

Scott Mitchell, who lives at the beginning of Elie Street West, said he watched the devastation
unfold.

"I saw the funnel form. It went up and it came down and when it came down it was much larger.
It tore everything off the ground. I was ready to run, but suddenly it went up and over us.
But it was bad. There was stuff flying through the air."

Neighbours pointed out one man in the Cartier Health Centre parking lot who was in one of
the houses that was destroyed. He looked shaken and said he did not want to talk.
The man's wife had been on the way to Winnipeg when the tornado hit. "I have no idea
what my house is like. From what I hear, it's not pretty," she said.

Joe Bryksa/Winnipeg Free Press
A semi is on its side along the Trans-Canada Highway near Elie.
"It's a horrible event and we're very fortunate there were not casualties," said
Reeve Roland Rasmussen of the Rural Municipality of Cartier.

The municipality has reserved hotel rooms in Winnipeg for people whose homes were damaged.

Kyle Picard of St. Eustache was driving on the Trans-Canada Highway at the time
with his children, four and eight years old. "They were a little hysterical
that the hydro lines were snapping and sparks were flying through the air.
The kids were screaming, 'We're going to die!'"

Wayne Hanna, who was also driving east on the Trans-Canada, said the tornado
did not look like he expected after seeing twisters in movies.
"It was sort of like a sword on an angle."

He watched it cross the highway, then drove quickly past. "You could feel the wind."

Adam Pankhurst was returning home from a business trip in Saskatchewan and had just left
Portage la Prairie when he saw a funnel cloud forming to the east.
He began to take photos of it while driving.

"As I got closer and closer, everyone was pulling over to the side of the highway.
When it was about 100 yards to my right, my car was lifting and shaking," he said.

"I saw that the tornado had lifted and tossed a semi-trailer into the ditch.
It must have been pretty big because it tossed the semi-trailer about 25 feet to my right.
I was thinking this was the worst mistake I've ever made."

Pankhurst said he hit the accelerator, but was unable to drive faster than 100 km/h.
"It felt like my car was being sucked into it. The last I saw of it was
when I took a picture of it in my rear-view mirror.
It was travelling west and I was heading east."

Rob Waldner lives at nearby Hutterite colony. He watched the funnel cloud
from beginning to end.

"It's pretty amazing. It was devastating. It was just a skinny little thing
and then it came down and it must have been a quarter-mile wide. Unbelievable."

Environment Canada meteorologist David Wray said his office received three
reports of tornadoes.

He said several severe weather warnings, including tornado watches and warnings,
were issued for much of southern and southwestern Manitoba yesterday.

--With files from Shaun McLeod and Canadian Press