The most powerful tornado in Canadian history touched down just outside Winnipeg 10 years ago on June 22. Not a single person was injured.
On June 22, 2007, a tornado touched down north of the Trans-Canada Highway before heading south towards Elie, Manitoba.
"It was stormy [throughout my drive]," said Robert Wiebe. He was a delivery driver who happened to be on the road when the tornado touched down.
"As I approached Elie, I saw a line up of cars," Wiebe said. "I got out . . . and realized it was a massive tornado."
Wiebe said he stood outside his car with everyone else and couldn't believe what he was seeing. He started to pray that lives would be spared.
When the tornado, which reached an F5 rating, finished, not a single person was injured or killed. One house was completely lifted off it's foundation, while the tornado also flung a 3/4 ton GM van filled with drywall.
It was also the first tornado that Joe Suderman had ever seen. "I've grown up in BC all my life so I've never seen a tornado," he said.
Suderman said a tornado formed in the field beside him, while the F5 tornado formed in front of him and he watched it cross the highway.
"It was a little scary for a BC boy who has never seen something like that," Suderman said. "[We] pulled over at a gas station and asked them what we are supposed to do."
Suderman saw a semi-trailer flipped upside down in the field beside the road, about 100 feet away. When he arrived at the gas station, he met the trucker who was in it when it happened.
"The pictures were sure interesting to share around with everybody back home," Suderman said about his return home later.
The tornado remains the only one in Canadian history to reach an F5 rating (or an EF5 rating using the Echanced Fujita scale).
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