Carol Baldwin
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Wakaw Recorder
Insurance claims are rolling in following story that battered communities south of Prince Albert more than a week ago.
CEO of Municipal Hail Insurance, Rodney Schoettler, said that as of Monday afternoon, 700 claims had been received, covering 1,943 quarters of land or 285,000 acres in 85 Rural Municipalities. He expects 375,000 to 400,000 acres to be affected.
“So it’s going to be a big day,” Schoettler said, even though it would not be the biggest one, as the weather event on August 21, 2024, affected 440,000 acres.
Executive Vice-President of Ag Direct Hail, Bruce Lowe, said as of Tuesday morning, 110 claims had been submitted and expected more in the days ahead. Of those 110, 65 are from Saskatchewan, 35 from Alberta, and 10 from Manitoba.
The storm, which triggered tornado watches and warnings on Wednesday of last week, first laid waste to crops and infrastructure in the Brooks, Alta. area. Then it continued making its way to the Eston and Kindersley areas of west-central Saskatchewan and across the northern grain belt from north of Saskatoon all the way to western Manitoba.
People across the Wakaw Recorder’s readership area watched the sky that evening, monitoring alerts and keeping friends and family informed. Crops along Grid #767, referred to as the Smuts grid, south of Cudworth, were pummeled into the ground by hail and the accompanying high winds, leaving farmers with nothing to salvage. Grain bins also took a direct hit from Mother Nature.
Environment Canada issued a weather summary on Aug. 21 confirming that several thunderstorms in the evening of Aug. 20 and overnight had impacted the province, producing large hail and strong winds, along with multiple reports of funnel clouds and possible tornadoes near Martensville and Middle Lake. The hamlet of Blumenthal reported golf ball-sized hail, while Hague reported hail the size of quarters.
Dave Sills, director of The Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) at Western University, said on Friday, Aug. 22, that groups had been sent to central Saskatchewan to investigate Wednesday’s severe weather events. He said they have received “lots” of damage reports from people in the province’s central region associated with Wednesday’s storm, and that groups are assessing what kind of “phenomenon” was the cause, whether it was from a tornado or plow winds.
Sills said he was able to identify “five or six potential tornados” using radar data, and also said that a storm of this calibre, “this late in the season, on the Prairies, is pretty rare.”
According to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), 5,750 lightning strikes were recorded within a 50-kilometre radius of Saskatoon during last week’s storms, the most in one day since 2022. On average, Saskatoon receives 16,228 strikes from May through September, according to data recorded since 2013. Last Wednesday’s storm put Saskatoon at 17,141 for 2025, above the average for the season.
