June 1, 1986 - Saskatoon tornadoes

[Eabie]

I found this vivid recollection of a largely forgotten Canadian tornado event (probably because there was no deaths or major injuries). I've posted it below for ease, but here's a link to the blog I found it at - it's called "Canadian Prairie Storms" with a particular focus on Saskatchewan: http://canadianprairiestorms.blogspo...es-strike.html

June 1st, 1986

Three Tornadoes Strike Saskatoon's North End

by Jared Mysko

Since I could not find anything on this event anywhere on the Internet, I decided to make a page totally dedicated to this major event. Just because no lives were lost does not mean that it was not significant. In fact, it shows that we have been very fortunate and that we live in a potentially dangerous area where tornadoes have struck and will strike again.

First I will tell my own personal story from this event.

June 1st 1986, a date that I will never forget. It was my sister's birthday and I remember it as being a very windy day. I would ride my bike everyday since we lived only a short distance from the river and all the great bike trails that the river parks offered. A windy day would only make the usual trek down to the river more difficult and so I grew to really hate the wind when I was young. I was always paying attention to the weather so that I would know what I was in for on my daily bike ride. After supper time, I remember going outside and noticing how the wind had suddenly vanished and I said to my mother that I was going for a bike ride since it was seemingly perfect conditions. My mother reminded me that there was a risk of a thunderstorm and I remember complaining about my ears popping. Thinking nothing of it, I got on my bike and rode about a block and a half before coming to a grinding stop in the middle of Redberry Road. The wind had suddenly picked up and I was so upset that I went straight back home. In the time that it took to get home the wind must have increased to 80 or 90 km/hr and my mother was already putting the lawn chairs inside and told me to close all the windows in the house because it was about to storm. The sky went from clear to very dark in a very short time and dust was getting in though the window screens. Having closed all but the kitchen windows with the help of my sister, my mother and father rushed in. Since the kitchen window was more difficult to reach since it was above the sink and I was not tall enough to reach it, my mother came over to help. As she neared the window, something hit the window breaking it. By then we could not see anything but dust and debris outside so it was clear to all of us to head to the basement. As we closed the basement door, I wasn't sure if we would have a house standing when it was over. We all sat and listened to the famous "train rumble" that tornadoes are famous for. It was incredibly loud considering that usually we can not hear anything from the outside when in the basement. We must have waited at least a half an hour in the basement until we were sure that it was safe to come out. My father and I decided to walk outside to see what happened. First thing we saw was the water had filled the street and was creeping up on our lawn. As the water receded, shingles, nails, and mud were everywhere. Looking at our house, we could not see any major damage since it was night time. Looking across the street however, our neighbor completely lost their top level of a split level house. We decided to try and find where the roof had landed, so we began to walk around the neighborhood. Many other people came outside and soon the streets were alive with shocked residents roaming around and chatting with each other. Amazingly, the clouds were beginning to pull away and we could see stars only about an hour after the storm. We found what we thought were the remains of our neighbors' roof on the opposite crescent (Dore Cres.) on top of a no longer recognizable car. My father said that we should head back home and we did. I don't think I slept very well that night. The next morning, my school (St. George) rallied all the grade 7 and 8's together to help clean up the neighborhood. For the next week or so, we watched as traffic filled our street with people wanting to see the devastation. We ended up having to replace pretty much all the siding, shingles, and couple of windows. Our big olive tree also was damaged and began to lose its strength over the next few years. Other than that we all consider ourselves lucky to have survived and we are thankful for the solid construction of our house.