Sign up for the meadowlakeNOW newsletter

Summer storm slams St. Louis

Jul 4, 2018 | 5:00 PM

An isolated hail storm hit St. Louis, about 30 kilometres south of Prince Albert, Tuesday afternoon temporarily flooding roads and tearing up local gardens.

“You could barely see the road,” said St. Louis resident Loretta Vandale. “It was flowing pretty fast and it was quite a dramatic show.”

Residents say light rainshower fell on and off for most of the morning but the huge downpour of rain and hail started in the afternoon according to Janine Phaneuf who recorded some of the summer storm with her phone. A video she posted to Facebook now has 40,000 views.

“Usually, when hail comes down that heavy you expect it to last a few minutes, but it probably went on for closer to 30 minutes and it didn’t let up. It was quite insane,” Phaneuf said.

 

While there were no official reports of flooding in homes, Phaneuf said she heard some residents did end up with water in their basements.

“I don’t think the culverts and ditches could keep up. It looked like a river in front of our house and it was flowing pretty good,” she said.

Meanwhile, Vandale said her family was fortunate the hail never got big enough to cause significant damage to property other than their flower pots and garden.

“My dad went to check his lettuce and was disappointed that quite a few things in the garden were ruined,” she said.

Residents said the storm seemed to be localized just to the village of St. Louis. Phaneauf has friends who live about two kilometres outside of town and they were hardly hit by the hail.

 

teena.monteleone@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TeenaMonteleone