People living in parts of southern Alberta were cleaning up again on Monday, after another nasty storm swept through the area on the weekend.
On Sunday, the Cardston area, about 90 minutes southeast of Calgary, was pummelled by heavy rain and hail the size of tennis balls that smashed windows, dented vehicles, snapped large tree branches and destroyed crops.
The storm began around 8 p.m. and lasted about 20 minutes.
On Monday, residents of Cardston, Ab., were cleaning up from a nasty storm on Sunday that pummeled the area with tennis ball sized hail.
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Trevor Jones, manager of operations for Carstar, a local auto repair shop, said a lot of vehicles were so severely damaged they can’t be driven until they’re repaired.
“Numbers are still climbing as of 10:00 this morning (Monday, July 28). One of the insurers had 50 claims already and that’s within a two-hour period. I fully expect that to grow exponentially over the next few days,” added Jones.
“A large amount of the town has received damage and outside in surrounding areas, too.”
The storm also devastated some area farms.
Kyle Nish lost about 3,000 acres of crops.
“The other day I was walking out to the middle and I was walking in spots where it was hitting me in the chest, and it was a nice crop out here. I was excited for harvest, you know, looking forward to it — and then in 15 minutes it’s just gone.”
Nish said some of his tractors and other equipment were also damaged by the hail.
“I know this was definitely golf ball and bigger,” added Nish.
A huge storm cell that moved through the Milo, Ab. area, about 9.
Stephen Thor
In Calgary, while there were no reports of serious hail damage, there was another deluge of heavy rain as thunderstorms rolled through the city during the busy Monday morning commute.
According to Environment Canada, there has been 139.6 mm of rain that has fallen on the city so far this July — although some volunteer weather stations from the Bowness area have recorded 184 mm of rainfall this month.
The record for July in Calgary is 245.4 mm, set in 1927. In 2016, the national weather service said 206 mm of rainfall fell.
Calgary police are investigating after this car ended up submerged in a waterlogged ditch on Monday morning. There was nobody inside when emergency crews arrived.
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On Monday afternoon, a large swath of southern Alberta, stretching from Calgary to the Montana border and east to Medicine Hat, was again placed under a severe thunderstorm watch, with Environment Canada meteorologists warning about the possibility of hail up to five cm in diameter and wind gusts of over 100 km/h.
However, there is some relief for rain-weary residents in the forecast.
Environment Canada forecasts a warm front to start moving into the province late Monday and by Wednesday the forecast high for Calgary is 27 C, while in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat it will be around 30 C.
