Rural Roots Canada
Severe Storm Safety
In mid-July, severe storm season reaches its peak on the Canadian prairies. Already, hundreds of hail-related crop insurance claims have been filed, and several tornadoes have touched down across the prairies.
For a farmer, a single storm could wipe out weeks or months of hard work.
Cochrane, Alberta-based storm chaser Braydon Morisseau has seen firsthand the damage severe weather can cause.
In an interview with Rural Roots Canada, Morisseau said there are things we can do to keep ourselves and our properties as safe as possible.
- Duration:
- 2m
- Broadcast on:
- 08 Jul 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
Tips to stay safe when severe weather strikes. I'm Tim Perrant with Rural Roots Canada, amplifying Canadian agriculture. It's early July, a prime time for active and severe weather across the prairies, and that includes tornadoes. Braden Morisso is an experienced storm chaser for those in vulnerable areas. Morisso provides important safety advice. Seeking refuge in a bathroom with a mattress over one's head might not always be the most practical, but. - It really depends on your situation. If you don't have a basement, that's definitely an option. It's a tornado situation, but it's just putting as many walls as you can between you and the storm. Staying away from the windows. If you're in a vehicle trying to seek shelter in a permanent shelter or a sturdy building is definitely a lot safer. - You also need to be aware of what's in your field. Whenever possible, store your equipment and materials in your outbuildings. Morisso points to the Didsbury tornado of 2023 as an example of why you should do that. - There was a new Holland Combine. It was actually tossed from the property. They think up to 50 meters and the weight of a new Holland Combine, I don't know. I think this is what, 10,000 pounds, hay bales. We're at Tilston tornado in July 27th, 2015 in Southwest Manitoba. In our video, you can see soaking wet hay bales get lofted completely vertical. - And twisters often arrive with driving rain and massive hail, which is also extremely dangerous. Morisso speaks from experience on that. - We were chasing a tornado down on the Texas Oklahoma border. We had a large tornado on the ground just for itself, but it wasn't the tornado that was the danger was the hail stones. So on the north side of this room, we get what we call Ford Flank down draft wins. So we were getting 100 mile per hour Ford Flank down draft wins. And embedded in that was softball sized hail stones. And we were in these big vans, right? And some locals in front of us had froze up and they didn't know what to do and they stopped in the middle of the road. And at that point, the Ford Flank had overtaken us. We were getting these softballs with 100 mile power wins. Took out every window in the vehicle to the point where we actually had the hail stones come through one side of the car and blow out the other side of the car. - If a tornado is bearing down on your farm, the Canadian government says your family and your home should be your priority, not livestock, open gates if you must to give them an escape route, but then seek shelter and safety immediately. For Rural Roots Canada, I'm Tim Parent, amplifying Canadian agriculture. (upbeat music)