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Saskatchewan

East central Sask. battered by storms as 3 tornadoes touch down

A tornado caused damage to power lines and afarm near Foam Lake, Sask., approximately 200 kilometres northeast of Regina, late Wednesday afternoon.

Power lines, farm buildings struck by tornado near Foam Lake Wednesday afternoon

No one at this farm was injured after the tornado passed by, storm chaser Riley Anthony was told. (Submitted by Riley Anthony)

Atornado caused damage topower lines and afarm near Foam Lake, Sask., approximately 200 kilometres northeast of Regina, late Wednesday afternoon.

Environment Canadaconfirmed Thursday morning that a total three tornadoes touched downnear Foam Lake, Manitou Beach, and the Cymric/Govan area.

Riley Anthony, an amateur storm chaser who lives in Wynyard, was driving along Highway 16 west of Foam Lake when he saw a funnel cloud touch downaround 5:15 p.m. CST.

After it passed by, he noticed power lines down along the highway, chunks of metal in trees, anddamagedgrain binswhich he estimates werethrownabout a kilometre from their original location.

"There's a farmyard there with a lot of destruction," said Anthony. "The shed's gone. It's a big mess and it's really sad to see people lose everything that they worked for."

An uprooted tree and toppled grain bin were among the damage reported in Wednesday afternoon's storm. (Submitted by Riley Anthony)
Pieces of metal could be seen in this power line near Foam Lake on Wednesday. (Submitted by Riley Anthony)

A passerby he spoke with believedno one at the farm was injured.

SaskPower reported outages in the area, with no estimated time of repair as ofWednesday evening.

"Foam Lake substation is still off. Crews are assessing damage from a weather system that went through the area," the agency's outage page reported.

Farm buildings were damaged at this property near Foam Lake Wednesday. (Submitted by Riley Anthony)
Areas where the storm passed through were still without power as of Wednesday evening. (Courtesy SaskPower)

Storm captures attentionat popular beach

About 150 kilometres west of Foam Lake, people in the Watrous and Manitou Beach area of the province snapped photos and videos of the same storm cell spawning of a landspout tornado.

Video shows people leaving Manitou Beach as it approaches.

No damage was immediately reported.

Tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings were in effect as the system hitsouthern and central Saskatchewan Wednesday, but the stormnear Foam Lake appears to have been the strongest so far.

The unsettled weatherwasthe result ofa cold front from a low pressure system that moved in from Alberta. That province saw severe storms, prompting tornado warnings, on Tuesday.

The system moves into Manitoba through the early morning hours Thursday, but no severe weather is expected for much of the Prairies through the day.