By Glenn Hicks

Canola crop wrecked by freak storm

Jul 9, 2018 | 5:00 PM

A long-time farmer north of Prince Albert is taking stock of his crop after the freak storm that ripped through the area in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The storm, which moved in from the west, produced extreme winds, rain, and hail in isolated areas, causing the destruction of hundreds of trees and damaging property including campers and vehicles in areas like Emma Lake, Christopher Lake, Morin Lake, and Debden.

“This is one of the worst storms we’ve had” Keith Herzog, who farms in Mayview, told farmnewsNOW. “It uprooted trees; big spruces right out of the ground.”

He said one of his neighbors had a 2,000-bushel grain bin thrown into the air and land in their pasture. While one of his vehicles sustained hail damage, he said his most pressing concern is the state of his canola crop.

“The canola was just starting to flower and the next morning when we got up there were no flowers on it. There are so many broken and bruised stems, I don’t know if it’s going to come back,” he said. Herzog said he was talking to insurance adjusters, but figured he wouldn’t know the full extent of his losses for a number of weeks.

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Herzog had three quarters of canola in different areas, all of which got hit by the hail. His brother has wheat crops on the same farm, he said, but while they were flattened by the winds they are recovering quickly.

“We stayed in the house during the storm and you could hear it hammering down,” he said. “The hail was all sorts … from pea-size to large, jagged pieces.”

In the meantime, SaskPower was still surveying for damage, given the very remote location of some of their infrastructure.

“Most customers are back online now, but we have a few dozen still without power in the Emma Lake area,” SaskPower Spokesperson Jonathan Tremblay said Monday afternoon. The hope was those remaining properties would be back online by the end of the day.

Tremblay said the nature of much of the damage, such as smashed power poles and lines ripped by fallen trees, required helicopter observation before materials could be flown in and repairs completed. In some cases, he said power was re-routed via other lines.

Public safety was still a serious issue a few days after the storm, Tremblay said.

“We may still have lines down that we don’t know about, so if anyone spots one please stay away. It may look dead, but might have electricity running through it,” he said.

Tremblay recommended calling SaskPower or even 911 so damaged lines could be reported and attended to as soon as possible.

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertNOW