
Photo courtesy Daily Herald Staff. Cars navigate flooding by the SGI building on 15th Street in Prince Albert on June 16, 2021. Photo by Lucas Punkari. An uprooted tree pushes against a fence after a storm blew through Prince Albert on June 16, 2021. Photo courtesy Richard Hodgson. A tree crushed a car in the Midtown neighbourhood after a storm rolled through Prince Albert on June 16, 2021. The aftermath of a tree falling on a car in the midtown area of Prince Albert on June 16, 2021. Photo by Peter Lozinski. FIrefighters responded to a pair of structure fires after a storm blew through Prince Albert on June 16, 2021. Photo by Peter Lozinski. Visibility was nil when pounding rain and hail hit Prince Albert on June 16, 2021. Photo courtesy Prince Albert Firefighters. City crews used heavy equipment to clear roads after a storm blew down trees in Prince Albert on June 16, 2021. Photo by Peter Lozinski. Trees were uprooted or ripped apart after a storm blew through Prince Albert on June 16, 2021. Photo by Peter Lozinski. One resident was lucky enough to have a pre-existing ratchet line just save her home from getting hit by a tree snapped in two during a storm on June 16, 2021. Photo by Peter Lozinski. This tree in the east flat area was split into multiple pieces after a storm blew through Prince Albert on June 16, 2021. Photo by Peter Lozinski. The Prince Albert riverbank was lined with downed trees on June 16, 2021 after a storm blew through the city. Photo by Peter Lozinski. Crews worked to remove a tree that had fallen on a home in the Midtown area of Prince Albert after a storm on June 16, 2021. Photo by Peter Lozinski. One resident said she was lucky a tree uprooted in her front yard during a June 16 storm narrowly missed her front steps and fell just short of her car, leaving her with no significant damage. Photo by Peter Lozinski. Power lines from across the city were hit with downed trees after a storm blew through Prince Albert on June 16, 2021. Photo courtesy Richard Hodgson.
Prince Albert was filled with the sounds of emergency sirens and chainsaws Wednesday morning as crews cleaned up the damage caused by a severe storm that swept through the city.
The sky turned a shade of grey-green and rain, wind and hail hit the city hard at about 9:30 a.m. Streets were flooded, recycling bins and trampolines blown about and trees either ripped down or torn in half by the weather.
Visibility was nil as the story pounded the city. Dozens of calls were made to emergency services in just a few minutes. The fire department received 24 calls in just 45 minutes. That included two structure fires, several trees on fire and many downed power lines.
SaskPower said there were several outages, most of which were restored within a few minutes. Other outages took longer as crews removed debris from local power lines.
The outages caused other issues, though, with traffic lights out and phone systems down in some places. The outage delayed court proceedings, as both courtrooms and lawyers were unable to reach the Prince Albert Correctional Centre and Pine Grove Correctional Centre over the phone or by video.
Power was also out at several schools, and at the Alfred Jenkins Fieldhouse.
The city closed the Kinsmen Water Park for cleanup due to downed trees.
Across the city, crews were removing trees from public property and using heavy equipment to clear the streets. Others were unplugging storm drains as localized flooding made certain routes impassible.
Environment Canada said 14.8 mm of rain fell and winds gusted up to 113 km/h.