Rebuilding begins in Alonsa, Man., area after destructive tornado

The community struck by a powerful tornado around Alonsa, Man., is picking up the pieces left behind in the storm's up-to-800-metre-wide path of destruction Friday night.

The tornado touched down at roughly 9 p.m. CT, sweeping through the Alonsa, Silver Ridge, and Margaret Bruce Beach area, about 165 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, and killing a 77-year-old man.

On Monday, community members and volunteers were working together to clearthe wreckage, which is littered in fields, along the shores of the beach and into Lake Manitoba itself.

"I can't see how we're going to do it alone. I really don't," said Alonsa Reeve Stan Asham.

Asham said he'd like to get help from the military with the cleanup. Community members expressed concerns about possibly harmful wreckage in the lake itself, some of which includes vehicles and propane tanks.

Watch Alonsa Reeve Stan Ashamtalk about cleanup efforts:

Alonsa Reeve Stan Asham says they may try to call in the military

6 years ago

Duration 0:45

'I can't see how we're going to do it alone'

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister, who visited the area Monday, said provincial Emergency Measures staff are dedicated to helping the community rebuild, and said the province would evaluate the need for military assistance as cleanup continues.

"It's different from tornadoes in other locations where there isn't a big water body involved, eh, because you can see the debris for the most part and clean it up quickly for the most part," Pallister said.

"This is going to add a new challenge."

Man killed remembered as kind, generous, funny

Many of the people cleaning up on Monday shared fond memories of Jack Furrie, 77, who was killed by the tornado.

"Fifty-one years ago, on July 29, he stood in our wedding party," the reeve said Monday. "He was a good friend."

Earl Eyolfson, a relative of Furrie's who lives nearby, remembered Furrie's generous heart.

"Jack, he was a good neighbour. And he was always there to help you, whenever you needed help," Eyolfson said.

Eyolfson's own home, which he and his family built together, was also destroyed. On Monday, family members and a team of 18 volunteers were sifting through debris.

Eyolfson said he and his wife, Janet, were in their sitting room on Friday night when the tornado hit. The couple was hurrying to the basement when the twister tore the roof off their home, leaving Janet trapped beneath a table covered in pieces of the ceiling, walls and windows.

Watch Earl Eyolfson talk about being in his home as it was destroyed by the tornado:

A table and helpful neighbours saved Earl Eyolfson's wife Janet

6 years ago

Duration 1:36

A table and helpful neighbours saved Earl Eyolfson's wife Janet

"I was just thinking where she was," Eyolfson recalled. "Then she was calling for me but I couldn't hear her, and then I'd start calling for her and she answered me."

The storm was still going and Eyolfson was trying to get the debris off her when Matthew Oleschak and his cousin ran over to help.

Watch Matthew Oleschakon running into the storm to help his neighbours:

Matthew Oleschak explains why he ran outside in a tornado to save his elderly neighbours

6 years ago

Duration 1:54

Matthew Oleschak explains why he ran outside in a tornado to save his elderly neighbours

"I didn't even reallythinkat all, I just, I looked at my cousin Charles, I said, I'm out of here, I said, I'm going. Charles told me, he said, I'm right behind you,'"Oleschaksaid.

The group got her free and helped her back to the next-door home before an ambulance came.

Marion Nelson, the Eyolfson's daughter, said her family has never been through anything like it before.

Watch Marion Nelson describe the effort to save her mother:

Marion Nelson on daring rescue that saved her mom's life

6 years ago

Duration 0:56

Marion Nelson on daring rescue that saved her mom's life

"We built this house ourselves by hand, the whole family," she said. "And now we're taking it down."

'Like a freight train and a jet all at once'

Russell Cabak has been farming in the region's Silver Ridge area for 52 years, and survived severe damage from a flood in the area in 2011. But after the tornado, he said he's done.

Cabak had 13 family memberswith him Friday night when they saw the funnel cloud and went to the basement of the cottage on his property for safety.

"All of a sudden the wind started coming like crazy. You could hear howling outside, like a freight train and a jet all at once," Cabak said.

As they hid there, the building was torn off the foundation. Cabak said his son-in-law was the only one who dared to look upas the house turned slowly to the northwest and then vanished, "like a snap of the fingers."

"I figured I was a goner. But, I was sad and worried about the grandkids. They have their whole life ahead of them. Me, I'm already an older guy, didn't really matter," Cabak said.

"But still, I was worried. But by the grace of God or something, something saved us."

Watch Russell Cabakrecall his tornado experience:

'By the grace of God or something, something saved us'

6 years ago

Duration 2:58

Russell Cabak describes harrowing wait as house ripped away from basement where he hid from tornado with his kids and grandkids.

Cabak said his barns were destroyed, and more than 200 bales of his hay were picked up, "just like marshmallows," and scattered.

"I can't take anymore. I think this is it. I don't feel like rebuilding," Cabak said.

"It would be a major rebuilding job for me to do, and at my age I don't really want to start all over again. That would be like starting 52 years ago."

In Cabak's house not the cottage on his property where he and his family hid another 30 people were huddled in the basement during the tornado.

Bernadine Zimmerman and her husband were among them. They rushed there for safety after the tornado swept close to their trailer at Margaret Bruce Beach and Campground down the road.

Zimmerman said the tornado came in with no warning, and the storm in the area started as just a bit of rain and then hail. She and her husband had gone into the trailer and just poured a glass of wine when he went out to move his vintage Chevrolet and spotted the funnel cloud.

He shouted at her to leave and she jumped into the truck and drove, not sure where to go, before pulling into the Cabaks' yard and asking to be let into the house along with other campers.

"You could just see the clouds, circling above you, spinning above you," she said.

"People were running out of their vehicles and running to the door, and I screamed, 'Can we come in, too?'"

When they returned to their campsite later, they found their trailer far from where they'd parked it, with the interior destroyed. Had they left even a few minutes later, Zimmerman said they'd likely have been inside when the storm had hit it.

"I'm kind of really glad my husband's so anal about his Chevy now," she joked.

"Because had he not gone outside, I think we would've been inside that camper. Because there was just no warnings, on the cellphone or anything."

Christel and James Bruce own the campground where Zimmerman stayed. They had barely finished all the fixes following the 2011 flood when the tornado hit, she said, leaving behind extensive damage.

Now they're starting the process up again, and helpers converged at the site Monday to contribute.

"Well, we just love this place. It's a bit of heaven to us, and to so many other people," she said.

"And you can tell by the way they've pitched in. And we've got it back before, we'll get it back again."