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Kelly and Shelley Anaka's farmyard, a mile north of Moose Jaw, had large steel grain bins lifted up and moved by the windstorm on Oct 17, 2017. (Jessika Guse/980 CJME)

131 km/h wind gusts leave trail of damage in Moose Jaw

Oct 18, 2017 | 11:01 PM

The wind was so strong Tuesday in Moose Jaw, meteorologists called  it the windiest city on Earth.

Wednesday saw repairs underway after hurricane-strength gusts reaching 131 kilometres per hour hit the Friendly City.

Kelly and Shelley Anaka found five grain bins either tipped over or blown away and chunks of steel littered throughout their farmyard, located about one-and-a-half kilometres north of Moose Jaw.

“They are destroyed,” Kelly said. “I guess the winds were the strongest they’ve ever been around here for a while and it is what it is and they can be replaced.”

Kelly said the damage is estimated at more than $150,000. But he said the bins were the least of his worries.

“I’m making sure now to try to save the barn, the north wall is giving way on it,” he said while pointing to his antique barn – more than 80-years-old. “The barn (had just started) to be restored.”

He had contractors called up in the morning to start the repairs and to make sure a support beam was in place.

In Moose Jaw itself, Verla Birch said her home on the 400 block of Hochelaga Street would aslo need repairs.  She said she was finishing a crossword puzzle at her kitchen table Tuesday, when all of a sudden she heard a loud boom.

“It scared me actually,” Birch said. “I thought what the heck … there’s been an accident out there, so I got up and I went to the front door and I see the tree and I knew right away that that tree had fallen on the house.”

Birch said the 15-metre tall tree belonged to her neighbou.  She said it snapped right in the middle.

“It happened so fast it was just a big boom,” Birch said.

Birch’s granddaughter came over Wednesday morning to help assess and start repairs. Birch said she still wasn’t sure of the extent of the damage to her home.

A different type of wood fell over in the Sunningdale community.

Tracey Ferguson said she thought the whole top floor of he house was going to blow away in Tuesday’s wind storm.

“It was crazy!” Ferguson said. “I went to go to bed, so I closed the window cause the blind was banging then around 10 p.m. my husband said, ‘there goes the fence’ and I was like you better go put that picnic umbrella down and he said, ‘no no it’ll be fine’ and sure enough the fence blew down yet the picnic umbrella is still standing.”

She said the snap of the fence wasn’t too loud. But one thing across the street really puzzled her.

“Our fence blows down but yet the neighbours Halloween (decorations) are still up,” she said while laughing.

Ferguson said she’s lived in Moose Jaw all her life and has never experienced anything like the intense winds on Tuesday night.

Other damage in the city included ripped up signs,  scattered debris from tipped over garbage and recycling bins and a baseball diamond dugout left bent and pushed over.

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