Townhome under construction crumbles in the wind

A home under construction in Regina’s Harbour Landing neighbourhood has been left as a pile of rubble after it was flattened by powerful wind.

“It’s a disaster. I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve never seen a two-and-a-half storey building completely collapse to nothing,” said Virginia Nielson, who works for RSE Exteriors, the company doing work on the outside of the building.

She arrived at the site early Wednesday morning along Beacon Drive with a look of disbelief at what the eventual home had turned into: a tilted heap of wood, glass and pink insulation.

Nielson said she was there Tuesday afternoon for a safety meeting, busily getting materials strapped down and preparing for the impending storm.

“Nobody would have ever expected to see this in the morning,” she said. “I have never seen wind that crazy.”

North Prairie Developments Ltd. confirmed one of its three-storey townhomes under construction was knocked down Tuesday night. The company said the home had not yet been sold and, fortunately, nobody was inside at the time.

The development is right on the edge of the city just off the Trans-Canada Highway with no trees and a limited number of buildings around to provide any kind of real shelter from the elements, having left it mostly exposed to wind that hit a maximum gust of 119 km/h Tuesday night.

“It’s actually very sad. I’m glad there was nobody occupied in these buildings,” said Nielson.

North Prairie said the damage will be assessed and the company will figure out what insurance will cover.

The company estimated the downed building will result in about a five-week delay in construction on the project.