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Windstorm damages trees, causes power outage

Trees torn down in storm
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Town workers take down a tree in the cemetery in downtown Rimbey which was blown over by Tuesday’s windstorm. Treena Mielke Photo

Rimbey did not escape the fury of Tuesday’s windstorm, although the damage here was minimal compared to other municipalities in the area.

Director of public works Rick Schmidt said a couple of trees were down because of the storm, one of which had crashed on a power line, causing a power outage for a couple of hours.

He said some people had reported losing some shingles in the storm, but, no major damage.

This is the second severe windstorm that has swept through Rimbey and the surrounding area. The other storm, which occurred earlier in June, uprooted several trees.

Tuesday’s storm turned violent in Red Deer, however, and the city, about an hour southeast of Rimbey, has declared a local state of emergency.

Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer reported winds exceeding 112 km/h caused damage to homes and uprooted trees, some falling on power lines.

One person who was at a local campground suffered minor injuries.

Images posted on social media showed windows blown out of a local mall and a portion of a roof landing on parked cars. Environment Canada confirmed one of the severe thunderstorms that rolled through the central part of the province Tuesday on the leading edge of a cold front had swept through Red Deer.

Town officials in Innisfail, another central Alberta community, reported there were widespread power outages in that town. They also reported the roof had blown off the town’s curling rink, though an initial assessment said there was no structural damage to the building.