Sign up for the paNOW newsletter

Powerful storm downs trees, knocks out power in Central Sask.

Jul 7, 2018 | 7:40 AM

People looking to escape the heat with a weekend away at the lake were woken up by trees falling and loud thunder in the Debden, Murray Point and Emma Lake areas.

As a storm system made its way through the area late Friday and early Saturday morning people described the damage left on Twitter.

“My camper is destroyed,” Terrin Bjarnason shared in a tweet around 4 a.m. Saturday. “Thankfully I was able to crawl out with only minor scratches and the kids and hubby were at the back of the trailer and didn’t get hit.”

In another tweet, posted around 1 a.m., Destiny McPeek described hearing emergency crews and roads being blocked by fallen trees.

Environment Canada Meteorologist David Baggaley told 650 CKOM Saturday morning the worst of it was over.

“Through the evening (Friday) we did get reports of quarter-sized hail later that changed to hen-egg sized hail in the Neilburg area,” he said.

As the system continued east from the Battleford area Baggaley says it evolved.

“It (the storm) gave very strong winds and heavy downfall,” he said. “It tends to be very localised, but they were very strong thunderstorms for sure.”

According to Baggaley, the area north of the Battleford and Prince Albert along with the Parkland Region were the worst hit areas.