Clean up underway following quick, but violent storm in Winnipeg

Following a weather event in Winnipeg, damage was extensive throughout several neighbourhoods in the city. CityNews spoke to one home owner, who is trying to figure out next steps after a tree ended on-top of his garage.

Alvin Toews has lived in North Kildonan for more than 10 years and never thought the damage would be so extensive from such a quick storm.

“The amount that came down and everything — it’s incredible,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect, but it’s worse than I expected.”

Like many in the North Kildonan and the surrounding neighbourhoods, Toews was assessing damage following the incident, this after a massive tree in his backyard split during the incident saying what was going through his head as he saw the damage was one word.

“Stress. Stress of having to clean up the mess from the damage, having to clean it all up and the expenses involved with that.”

Alvin Toews speaks with CityNews in his backyard on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023. In the foreground, a massive tree branch can be seen resting on his garage following a quick, but violent storm in Winnipeg. (Photo Credit: Steve Anderson, CityNews)

Toews says he has insurance and he’s going through that process now, saying it appears it was a gust of wind that cracked the tree. The effect of the storm was obvious throughout the neighbourhood, broken branches, leaves and other debris scattered throughout.

WeatherLogics reporting it was a super cell thunderstorm that hung over parts of the city for about an hour that caused the damage, expecting it to be costly, as the storm produced tennis-ball sized hail and wind gusts of roughly 90 km/h.

One of the people who experienced it firsthand was Michael Thys. He and his wife dashed outside to save their garden in the midst of the downpour.

Michael Thys says him and his wife could not even hear each other while outside during the storm, this despite the fact they were yelling and just a few feet apart. (Photo Credit: Steve Anderson, CityNews)

“We started putting the covers down and in the time we could get the covers down on the five raised beds here, it went from peas, to being nickle size, to jagged golf-ball size,” explained Thys.

Thys explained him and his wife actually took shelter underneath the cover located on the last raised bed, saying they didn’t want to risk trying to make it the few feet to the house due to the hailstones.

“We were four feet apart, and I could see my wife’s face, and we were yelling at each other, but we couldn’t even hear what we were saying.”

City crews have been working on clean up since last night, with efforts continuing Friday. The City of Winnipeg encouraging residents to report damaged or downed trees to 311 or by submitting a service request online.

As 3 p.m. Friday, the city had logged 330 downed trees or broken branches, 20 malfunctioning traffic signals, 18 flooded catch basins and single backed-up sewer as a result of the weather incident. It also left master gardener Nadine Kampen’s summer of hard work in shambles.

Nadine Kampen, a master gardener, says it’s highly unlikely any unprotected gardens were able to survive the storm. (Photo Credit: Steve Anderson, CityNews)

“It’s smashed. It’s just smashed. The plants are broken, they’re denuded. The leaves are on the ground, the flowers are broken. It’s ruined essentially,” said Kampen.

She says while there are still enough hearty, native plants to play host to migratory birds and bugs in her yard, when asked if other gardens would have survived the storm if uncovered, she said it’s “highly unlikely.”

“Otherwise everything, No, everything would be smashed, people’s vegetable gardens particularly.”