A tornado touched down in northern Alberta Monday evening, locals say. “It started on the eastern side of the village of Girouxville, made its way through town, and then went back up into the clouds, and it continued there. It touched down just outside of Falher, and then it headed on an easterly path towards High Prairie,” said Marcel Maure, the Smoky River municipal district’s fire chief and director of emergency management, in an interview the next day. Central Peace-Notley MLA Todd Loewen shared photos of structural damage throughout the area. Maure confirmed, “(A farm east of town) took a lot of damages, destroyed some machine sheds (and) some grain storage areas, as well. And in town, there’s a few houses that lost roofs. “Nothing came off the foundation, which we’re thankful for. And through it all, there (were) no major injuries. A couple small cuts here and there.” The tornado also took down power lines, rendering the community of about 300 without power. Cleanup was well underway as of Monday. “The town pulled together and did an amazing job ... on helping their neighbours and everybody else clean up the area,” Maure said. “It’s a humbling experience to see that many people come out and assist their neighbours and friends and family.” Storm path investigation Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and the Northern Tornadoes Project out of Western University have confirmed at least one tornado in the Peace River region, but as Tuesday morning, could not confirm when and where the tornado touched down, or provide a rating. A team is being sent to investigate. ECCC says the storm started as rain before developing into a super cell that tracked southeast from the Peace River region toward High Prairie. The agency issued a thunderstorm warning shortly before 9:30 p.m. A spokesperson could not say why a tornado warning was not issued earlier. Falher and Girouxville are more than 400 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Connor Hogg
