Tornadoes, hail, wind all part of summer in Alberta

On Thursday evening, a tornado touched down near Breton.Huge hail stones pummeled Drayton Valley, and the town of Slave Lake was fighting floodwaters.

On Friday, Environment Canada confirmed a second tornado touched down Thursday near Athabasca.

Welcome to Alberta in the summer.

According to Environment Canada meteorologist Dan Kulak, severe weather is nothing unusual duringan Alberta summer.

"It's all just part of the summer weather spectrum we have in Alberta and we get wind, hail, rain and tornadoes every year," he said.

Slave Lake was deluged Thursday with 44 millimetres ofrain, most of which fell between 6 p.m and 8 p.m.

The town saw significant overland flooding, leaving some basements in the town underwater, said Mayor TylerWarman.

"Basically our storm sewer just couldn't keep up to the amount of water that was running through it," he said.

The town had to send out eighttrucks to help pump out water from two sewer lift stations.

"They worked until 5:30 this morning," he said.

Red Deer continues to clean up

In Red Deer, the clean up continues after a devastating windstormlast month.

Winds of over 112 kilometres an hour hit the central Alberta city on June 20 leaving more than onethird of homes without power.

About 3,500trees were destroyed in the massive storm, said Mayor Tara Veer.

She saidthe exact cost of the storm isn't known yet, but expects it to bein the hundred of thousands of dollars.

Expect more severe weather

Kulak says more storms will be coming.

"We're in an unstable pattern, basically," he said. "Every few days we're getting these storms."

The heat expected Friday and over the weekend is just one ingredient that contributes to more thunderstorms, he said.

"Moisture in the air is like the fuel for your car," he explained.

"You still need something to be the source of the ignition. The heat comes along with that, combined with the fuel, combines with the other things in the atmosphere and those particular days is when you get severe weather outbreaks."