'The trees are falling': Campers near Hay River caught in severe storm

People camping in Hay River, N.W.T., and surrounding areas were subject to extreme conditions Monday morning when a storm ripped through the southern part of the territory.

Environment Canada posted a severe thunderstorm warning around 9 a.m. that morning. The warning was in effect until just after 11 a.m.

Ingrid St-Cyr was camping at the Louise Falls Campground, which is located just outside of Enterprise, when the storm hit.

"I opened the window and I poured my coffee and I could just see all of a sudden it was like a downdraft of rain and wind, it just was pushing everything down." said St-Cyr.

"I just kept yelling, 'The trees are falling, the trees are falling,' and it just pushed them over ... [the storm]squished them down so fast and it was so scary."

St-Cyr said it was pure luck no trees fell on their RV.

She said when she checked on neighbouring campsites, trees had fallen on a few campers and tents.

Blaine Lowry, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada, said wind gusts up to 71 kilometresper hourwere recorded during the storm and about 15 to 20 millimetres of rain.

Lowry said in a region as sparsely populated as the N.W.T., it's difficult to tell if this type of extreme weather can be attributed to climate change.

"We know for instance that there's a number of large and possibly severe thunderstorms that occur east of the Mackenzie River valley every year in the Northwest Territories that almost always go unreported simply because there's not communities there," he said.

Lowry says this is a good reminder for everyone to pay attention to the severe weather watches and warnings from Environment Canada.

Updates can be found on the Canada government websiteor by downloading the WeatherCANapp.