It was looking a little like winter after a massive hailstorm blanketed Okotoks Tuesday afternoon. A massive thunderstorm passed through town around 4 p.m.
It was looking a little like winter after a massive hailstorm blanketed Okotoks Tuesday afternoon.
A massive thunderstorm passed through town around 4 p.m. leaving residents shovelling hail from sidewalks and traffic snarled as several streets across the community were flooded.
Cimarron area resident Barry Riebot didn't think he'd be shovelling off his sidewalks at the end of June.
“I've seen lots of hail, but nothing for that long,” he said.
The storm quickly turned to a tempest with high winds, heavy rainfall and hail lasting several minutes. There was enough hail to look like a winter snowfall blanketing roads and sidewalks.
Several roads were impassable and some vehicles were left stranded in deep water. There were also reports of large amounts of hail and poor driving conditions on local highways.
Fortunately, Riebot said the storm didn't appear to leave any damage to his home or his vehicles, but it made a mess of his yard and garden.
“It wasn't big enough hail to really damage anything, I think more just a landscaping nightmare,” he said. “Looks like I'm going back to home depot. I just planted those today.”
The storm threw the staff at Fountain Tire into a frenzy as the storm quickly swamped the business' showroom.
“The hail was all coming in on an angle and all pushed up against our tire wall,” said manager Dean White.
He said they had the front door propped open before the storm began. They didn't think much of it with the rain and first hailstones began to fall, he said, but it quickly turned and rain and hail poured inside.
“All of a sudden, it came in like a monsoon, it was unbelievable,” said White.
He estimated there was almost an inch of water before they were able to get everything out of the way and close the door.
White said they were lucky to have a large staff of technicians working at the time. Everyone jumped into action, removing items away from the front door where the water pooled and grabbed large squeegees used to clean the garage floor to push the water back out the front door.
“We were pushing it all out the door to try to keep everything dry,” he said.
Everything was cleaned up at the business soon after the worst of the storm passed.
A severe thunderstorm alert remains in affect for Okotoks and Environment Canada is forecasting possible thundershowers until midnight.
Town staff were busy cleaning up the morning after on June 29, sweeping up leaves on pathways, unclogging storm drains and looking for potential damage.
Parks manage Krista Michailuck said most of it is largely aesthetic, with leaves chewed up and ripped off trees by the hail.
“It appears to be mostly damage to leaves on trees,” she said. “There’s been just three tree failures that we are aware of on public land and no damage to private property from those public tree failures, as of yet reported.”
Michailuck advised people not to remove the damaged leaves that remain on trees and they should recover.
“Although they may be tattered, they still can photosynthesize on healthy trees,” she said. “They will still be functional.”