Tornado Outbreak Reported in Saskatchewan, Canada; Power Lines and Farm Buildings Damaged

A tornado outbreak was reported in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, on Wednesday, June 29, local officials confirmed.

Three tornadoes struck the eastern and central parts of the province, causing property damages but with no immediate reports of casualties.

One of the tornadoes on Wednesday afternoon struck a farm near the town of Foam Lake, which is approximately 200 kilometers northeast of the city of Regina.

The twister damaged power lines and farm buildings. The strong winds also downed trees in the area.

Aside the Foam Lake area, the Environment Canada reportedly confirmed the tornado touchdown occurred in Manitou Beach and the Cymric/Govan area.

However, local sources have not immediately of any significant damage, as well as fatalities or injuries from the windstorms.

Canadian media mentioned that a cold front from a low-pressure system caused the severe weather disturbance, which led to the temporary tornado occurrence. The threat of the weather system started earlier this week, but it is not expected to continue throughout the weekend.

The recent twister outbreak came at a time when heavy rain and flooding transpired in some areas of the Canadian Prairies region, which includes the provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba.

It also coincided with the persistent flooding in British Columbia due to rapid snowpack and ice melt from torrential rain.

Saskatchewan Tornadoes

Local media agency Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) said Environment Canada made the confirmation on Thursday morning, June 30.

It also mentioned than an amateur storm chaser named Riley Anthony, who was driving along Highway 16, saw the tornado as a funnel cloud that touched the ground near Foam Lake at around 5:15 p.m. local time.

Anthony claimed there was a "lot of destruction" at the farmyard, including an uprooted tree and a toppled grain bin.

Metal pieces were also seen in a power line, according to the storm chaser.

The incident was also captured and posted throughout social media.

In a tweet post by Twitter user "Jenny Hagan LostInSk," it can be seen in the image that a tornado has already formed earlier near Foam Lake.

Meanwhile, CTV News Regina reported that all three tornadoes have been given a classification as an EF0 tornado, the weakest level out of a five-tier system under the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale.

The local media agency said this could change as investigation into the tornado outbreak is underway.

Power Outages

According to SaskPower, unplanned power outages occurred in Foam Lake and its surrounding areas.

The loss of electricity was attributed to the storm damage.

Saskatchewan's principal electric utility provider laid out the following timeline of events in relation to the inclement weather this week:

• Crews were dispatched to determine the cause of the large outage in Foam Lake, Wadena, Wynyard, and their surrounding areas at 5:12 p.m. on Wednesday
• Green Water added to the list of the affected areas at 5:29 p.m.
• Partial power restoration reported in the affected areas at 6:19 p.m.
• Repair works continued throughout Thursday, leading to the resumption of power supply in the area