Tornado rips through field in southwest Manitoba

Atornado is confirmed to have touched down in southwest Manitobaon Sunday.

Environment Canada meteorologist Mike Macdonald said the twister hit between the communities of Deloraine and Boissevain.

Fortunately, it was in a field and did not strike any structures or injure any people.

That'snot far from where another tornado blew through Sioux Valley First Nation July 18, and where a possible tornado hit Pipestone on July 13.

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• Tornado confirmed at Manitoba First Nation, 2 injured
• When tornadoes strike: a Manitoba twister timeline

In those latter cases the storms left behind damaged homes and trees and sent two people in Sioux Valley to hospital.

Environment Canada is still trying to determine whetherit was a tornado or plow wind that slammed into Pipestone.

Macdonald said the number of summer storms this year isn't unusual but more have been reported lately.

"Over the past couple weeks, activity has certainly increased in western Manitoba," he said, attributing Sunday's storm to humid air colliding with a cold front.

Flashes and booms

In Winnipeg on Sunday,the sky was filled with lightning flashes and booming thunder, which being blamed forsparking a house fire in the West End.

Fire cews were called to the 600 block of Sherburn Street at about9 p.m. They believe an electrical surge caused the fire, which resulted indamages estimated at $70,000.

A firefighter had to be treated on the scene for a minor injury.

The storm alsoledto a couple of power outages in the city.

In Elmwood,550 Manitoba Hydro customers were left in the dark for a few hours whileabout 100 customers were affected in the Minto and Burnell area.

Allpower has since been restored.