Roof shingles, outdoor furniture, decorations and even trampolines were sent flying overnight on Nov. 30 during a windstorm that kept many people awake and worried.
Turner Valley and Black Diamond residents were cleaning up Dec. 1 and trying to locate some belongings or wondering where others had come from.
Environment Canada reported gusts in the area up to 73 km/hr overnight at the Turner Valley weather station, but residents said the winds felt much stronger.
Black Diamond fire chief Jamie Campbell said it felt like the winds were blowing more than 100 km/hr as firefighters worked to put out a grass fire across the road from the Turner Valley gas plant, another fire near Millarville and a third south of the Quirk Creek Gas Plant.
Turner Valley CAO, Shawn Patience, said he was at the site of the grass fire in that town, and said the wind was as strong as windstorms he experienced while living in Fort Macleod, an area notorious for high winds speeds.
“We had stuff scattered everywhere and there was a power outage for a time,” he said of the aftermath in Turner Valley. “Fortis was in working on some power poles that were compromised.”
Patience said the grass fires were the biggest issue that arose out of the windstorm. He gave credit to firefighters from around the region who responded. Patience was on hand during the grass fire in Turner Valley and ready to make a call out to Town staff if the firefighters needed their assistance.
“Even in that brutal, brutal wind they were able to contain it, but very extreme weather conditions for sure,” he said. “We had stop signs torn out. Our Christmas display took a beating. There was a lot of tree damage. A lot of residents are cleaning debris out of their yards and off their roofs.”
Residents even created a thread in a local community group on Facebook to try to help people be reunited with their property, he said.
Cheyanne Caton, a Black Diamond resident said the wind kept her up from midnight until around 3 a.m.
“I was scared that something was going to hit my windows and smash my windows,” she said. “It was blowing that hard. I’ve never seen or heard it ever blow that hard here before and I’ve lived here my whole life – 43 years.”
In the morning, she found her stuff strewn around.
“My trampoline when I woke up was up against my garage, so it probably went about 30 feet from where it was,” she said.
Her house was also damaged by the wind.
“It’s taken a lot of shingles, its right down to the wood in a couple of places,” she said. "I have had a neighbour, who is extremely awesome come over and patch it up as best he could and contacted my insurance company.”
Other people’s belongings have turned up in her yard, said Caton.
“I had a wicker chair in my yard and there is something red way up high in my pine tree that is out front,” she said.
On the Dec. 1 morning, she said people were already out cutting up fallen trees and cleaning up the mess left behind.
“There was just stuff everywhere, just random stuff,” she said.
