Wild weather wreaked havoc in Calgary and across the province over the Heritage Day long weekend.
The Calgary Fire Department, along with Enmax and EMS crews, were called into action due to an early morning rain-and-hail storm yesterday that lit up the skies with lightning and blistering winds up to 90 km/h.
“Most of the calls were related to high winds and the extreme weather conditions in the city,” said Calgary Fire Department spokesperson Deb Bergeson, noting that firefighters responded to 52 calls involving issues such as downed power lines, fallen trees and a blown transformer.
“Extreme weather means it’s extremely busy for the fire department.”
Bergeson added that crews were also called out to a house where a tree smashed into a window.
Enmax crews were also called upon to fix power outages that affected 11,500 customers, after responding to 4,000 other calls after a Saturday night storm.
Another 9,500 homes were without power yesterday night due to electricity outages, according to Enmax.
Saturday’s storm also resulted in a local tragedy when three-year-old Michelle Krsek was killed after she was struck by a six-metre-long metal sheet that blew off a building under construction on 9th Avenue and Centre Street SW. Her father and brother remain in hospital.
With more stormy weather in the forecast, concerned customers are encouraged to call the Enmax trouble line, said spokesperson Doris Kaufmann.
“I think that we’re in for a couple more interesting shows of lightning,” she said.
“It means that we can beef up the staffing and be ready for it.”
