Suspected tornado rips roof off Manitoba industrial building, leaving a $30 million path of destruction

Multiple Manitoba communities are dealing with flooded homes and streets following a major storm that passed over the province. CTV's Harrison Shin reports.

Crews are continuing to sift through the wreckage at a Selkirk, Man., industrial park where a vicious tornado is believed to have caused tens of millions of dollars worth of damage.

Selkirk Mayor Larry Johannson said city crews are continuing to work on cleaning up the ravaged industrial area on Thursday.

“The damage was just huge,” he said.

“I was at the industrial park again this morning and the building that’s hit the hardest is the Kinetic (Machine Works), its Steel Places building.”

The company’s CEO Dale Place told CTV News Wednesday all five of the buildings he owns at the park were damaged, with the metal roof torn clean off one of them.

“The tin from the roof was in the street. It hit a few cars,” Place said.

The bulk of his equipment was also destroyed.

The winds were so strong at one point, they knocked Place off his feet while he was trying to get out of his vehicle. All his employees who were working as the storm hit were able to evacuate safely and no one was hurt.

All in, he ballparks the damage to be more than $30 million.

“There’s nothing you can do,” he said. “That’s why you have insurance for these sort of things, but it was pretty crazy.”

‘A lot of work ahead of us’

While investigators are still confirming the scope of the intense storm’s damage, tornadoes were confirmed in Dufrost and Ste. Anne. Winds in excess of 100 km/h were reported throughout the province alongside inches of heavy rain and massive chunks of hail.

Mayor Johannson said cleanup continues in town, where crews are still hard at work clearing downed trees and keeping drainage and sewer systems operational.

A nearby RV park was hit particularly hard, he said, with countless stately trees ripped out.

“That Selkirk park is the jewel of the city, and it’s devastating to see it like that, but it will come back,” he said.

“But we’re coming along. There’s a lot of work ahead of us.”

With files from CTV’s Jamie Dowsett