Storm damage to southwestern Manitoba community's arena 'gut-wrenching,' resident says

A southwestern Manitoba community of fewer than 100people is in shock after overnight storms damaged their local arena on Sunday.

Stormy weather damaged the arena in Foxwarren, Man., a small community just south of the town of Russell and not far from the Saskatchewan border.

The weather kept resident Danny Johnston awake throughout the night. He says the wind picked up really fast, knocking over a number of trees in the community.

"It ripped the roof off the one side, the whole east side," he told CBC News on Sunday afternoon.

He called the damage "gut-wrenching," saying the arena has held the small community together.

"Everybody's trying to process what just happened here. It's pretty devastating to this place," he said.

"The population is 90 here. This is the only damn building left ... here that was still somewhere to gather."

Environment and Climate Change Canada said the thunderstorm was producing wind gusts of up to 165 kilometres per hour when it reached Foxwarren at around 6:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Kyle Ziolkowski, a meteorologist with the federal agency, said the storm began developing overnight, moving from northeastern Montana into Saskatchewan, where it turned intoa "bow echo" an intense type of storm that appears on radars in the shape of an archer's bow which is not uncommon in the Prairies.

Wind gusts reached between 90 and 110 kilometres an hour as the storm moved into southwestern Manitoba,Ziolkowskisaid.

"It intensified further and kind of peaked out around Foxwarren, where we had some reports of damage," he said. "Quite significant damage from the storm, and it was kind of a wide swathgenerally from kind of Arcola, Sask., up through Moosomin, through St-Lazare and up to the Foxwarren, Russell area."

The province said part of Highway 475, at the Foxwarren Access Road, was closed on Sunday morning due to debris on the road. Pictures show part of the arena's roof laying on the road.

The arena is sentimental to Patrick Graham, whose grandfather helped build it in 1949.

"We all grew up here, and this is a small town, and that's all we ever did was go to the rink," he told CBC News.

"Lots of people couldn't talk. There [were] people in tears," he said. "It's just a horrible thing for the community."