Evening storms bring hail, winds and downpours to Winnipeg and parts of southern Manitoba

People in parts of southern Manitoba, including Winnipeg, are cleaning up from a storm Thursday evening that brought hail, strong winds and localflooding in some areas.

Hail and fallen trees were reported in several north Winnipeg neighbourhoods, including North and East Kildonan, Transcona and Garden City, as a result of the storm, which started around 6:30 p.m.

Tania Stephansonwas with her two sons at the Seven Oaks Arena in Garden Citywhen the storm hit.

"Itjust suddenly got darker and the rain started, but then it became like a major downpour," she told CBCNews."Then the wind picked up and it was blowing the trees there was branches flying around."

Hail also piled up outside the arena's front doors and shattered her car's mirrors and lights,Stephansonsaid.

"It was very loud and it was very creepy, and we were all kind of moving away from the glass doors and windows instinctively because it was so creepy."

Warnings, watches in effect

All evening, Environment Canada meteorologists were tracking a clusterof storms capable of producing strong winds, large hail and heavy rain, withmost of southern Manitoba under severe thunderstorm watches and warnings.

Tornado warnings were issued, then lifted a short time later, for two areas the rural municipality of Reynolds, which includesthe communities of Ste. Rita, Hadashville and Rennie, and therural municipality of Grahamdale,including Gypsumville, Moosehorn and Camper.

Stephen Berg,a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, saidas of late Thursday evening, there were no reports of tornadoes touching down in those areas.

The national weather agency did receivereports of quarter-sized hail and wind gusts of up to 133 km/hin the Dugald area, golf-ball-sized hail in Winnipeg and Alonsa, and nickel-sized hail in parts of the Interlake,Berg said.

WATCH | Hail hits parts of north Winnipeg:

Hail hits north Winnipeg neighbourhoods

1 year ago

Duration 0:31

Hail hit parts of north Winnipeg on Thursday as a thunderstorm moved through the city. This video shows footage shot by, in order: Lesley Eng in East Kildonan, Gabriela Klimes in North Kildonan, and Tania Stephanson at the Seven Oaks arena.

A weather observer reported 110 millimetres of rain falling over a 30-minute periodin Selkirk, hesaid.

Stephansonsaid while driving home to Selkirk, they had to make some U-turns because some roads were flooded so badly, they couldn't drive through.

WhileStephansonsaidher neighbourhood in Selkirk was unscathed, Arlene Cross said water flooded the street in front of her home in the south part of the city north of Winnipeg.

"It happened so quickly," said Cross, who was watching TV on her couch around 6:50 p.m. when the downpour started. She said by about 7:05 p.m., the rain had stopped, leaving about 75 centimetres of water at the intersection near her home.

Berg said it's not uncommon for some parts of a city to be affected by a storm, while other areas are not.

"You'd end up having very, very stark differences in the rainfall amounts or hail sizes from one part of the city to the next," he said.

In Winnipeg, the storm moved through neighbourhoods in the north, while west and south Winnipeg appeared largely untouched, Berg said.

"Looks like the north Perimeter, northwest corner of the Perimeter, all the way down towards Transcona was the main swath," he said.

The weather agency was still in the process of compiling and analyzing data from the storm on Thursday evening, Berg said.