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For the second night in a row, more than 100 people with children and pets hid in the basement of a community hall as red tornado warnings lit up on their phones Saturday night.
“It’s been two days,” Chris Stewart told CBC News in an interview Sunday morning.
He was having dinner in Aquadeo, Sask., when the fire alarm went off again. The resort village of Aquadeo is located 40 kilometers north of Battlefords on Jackfish Lake.
“There were a few little kids at first who were a little worried and scared, but everyone was very calm,” he said.
“Everyone just poured into this place in the basement of the hall. And both times there were probably over 100 people there.”
WATCH | People take shelter in the basement of the hall amid tornado warnings:
People take shelter in the basement of a public building due to tornado warnings.
More than 100 people gathered in the basement of the Aquadeo Community Hall, Sask., for the second night in a row. They sang along with a guitar while their phones lit up with tornado warnings.
He wasn’t alone. At least a dozen communities in west-central Saskatchewan, including Turtleford, Glaslyn, Medstead, Edam, Paignton, Rabbit Lake and Spiritwood, were under tornado warnings Friday and Saturday as the slow-moving system gave way to another system from Alberta, according to Environment Canada.
“It’s pretty rare, but it’s not uncommon,” meteorologist Kyle Ziolkowski said. “It’s not abnormal, let’s put it that way.”
Dangerous weather has settled in Saskatchewan. The Jackfish Lake area experienced heavy rain, hail and strong wind gusts on Friday. (Submitted by Shannon Risling)
Saturday’s storms dropped 20 to 40 millimeters of rain, golf-ball-sized hail near Neilburg and wind gusts of up to 90 km/h near North Battleford. Environment Canada had not confirmed any tornado touchdowns Saturday night, but Friday was a different story.
Shannon Risling said she was enjoying a day at the beach at Jackfish Lake with her daughter Friday when they spotted the cloud wall.
“She was like, Mom, it’s time for us to race. And I was like, sure, let’s go,” Risling said.
“We’ve seen it all,” Risling said. “He landed. He stood up again. It formed again. He landed and was on the ground for about four minutes.”
Shannon Risling and her daughter near Jackfish Lake when they spotted a tornado approaching land (Submitted by Shannon Risling)
By the second landing, Riesling was already on the phone with Environment Canada.
“We don’t track storms everywhere,” he said. “We only do what we can with the data given to us,” Ziolkowski said.
Ziolkowski said the forecast for the coming week includes increased pressure and a return to calmer weather across the Prairies.
By Sunday morning, Stewart was back on the water, enjoying clear skies and a full day of fishing.
“It’s beautiful here and should be clear all day,” he said.