Repairs underway in parts of Alberta after powerful winds batter roofs, force a school to close
CBC
A quiet Sunday quickly turned chaotic for the owner of an Edmonton-based roofing company as dozens of homeowners suddenly began calling about major roof damage caused by powerful winds.
“It was pretty intimidating,” said Romac Roofing’s Taylor MacMillan.
“Some people were missing either half of their roof or their whirlybirds were off. Their vents were off, leading to holes in the roofs.”
Brian Proctor, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said an intense cold front moving rapidly across Alberta brought powerful winds to a large swath of the province, affecting many communities.
“Some of the strongest winds we saw were actually in the Andrew area. We saw 113-kilometre [per hour] wind gusts there — [in] Vegreville, we saw 107 kilometres an hour,” he said. Both communities are about 100 kilometres east of Edmonton.
Proctor said winds in the Edmonton area were somewhat lighter, but strengthened significantly as the system moved east.
MacMillan noted the wind gusts in Edmonton were powerful enough to cause damage, however.
“Within the first couple of hours, we had about 30 calls come in,” she said. “People were missing a whole bunch of shingles.”
Once the weather system passed through Edmonton, Proctor said it intensified while moving through an area stretching from Elk Island National Park to Vermilion.
This is where high winds also caused some damage to a health facility.
“The Vermillion Health Centre had minor exterior damage due to the high winds this weekend,” Alberta Health Services told CBC News in an email. “The facility did lose power; however, it was immediately restored by the backup generators.
“All patients and staff were safe through the storm, and there was no change to patient care.”
MacMillan said her crews spent Sunday responding to the most urgent repair requests and will continue working through a busy week ahead as calls are still trickling in.
In some cases, she said, homeowners were left with large sections of their roofs missing.
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