Edmonton International Airport was brought to a near standstill on Wednesday afternoon as a spectacular wind storm caused many incoming flights to be diverted to other airports, and outbound flights to be temporarily grounded.
At one point, the airport said incoming flights were to be diverted for at least two hours, until 5:45 p.m. (MST).
But as of 4:15 p.m. (MST) the airport said some flights were being allowed to land, at the discretion of Nav Canada.
Meanwhile, the storm wreaked havoc across the city and left thousands without power, snapped tree trunks and tossed at least two trampolines around residential neighbourhoods.
Epcor spokesman Tim le Riche said there were “multiple reports” of power lines down across the city.
“It’s almost entirely all wind,” he said. “The high winds not only knock trees into the lines but the lines start to wave around, and then they start banging into each other and that pulls them off their connections or shorts them out.”
At least 5,000 residents were without power on Wednesday afternoon.
Edmonton police spokeswoman Cheryl Sheppard said officers were dealing with a few traffic snarls due to downed trees. Officers had also received reports of at least two trampolines “flying around” the city.
The storm has brought winds of up to 100 km/h to the Edmonton region. The same cold front ripped through B.C. Tuesday night, downing power lines and leaving more than 100,000 homes without power.
The storm reached northern Alberta early Wednesday.
Jo-Anne Demers has lived in the Alberta Beach area for the past 10 years and said she has never seen a storm like this one.
Weather is now affecting flights at EIA. Please expect delays. We will keep you updated. Thank you for your patience.
— @FlyEIA
“It’s taken out everybody’s dock piers … there’s debris all over the place,” she said.
“The waves are splashing up hard enough that they’re hitting our front windows. This will probably never happen ever again in our lifetime, thank God.”
Demers has already called her insurance company about the damage.
CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe warned that the high winds would be compounded by heavy rains.
“They’re isolated cells of rain which could bring localized flooding, and we’re also talking snow for high elevations toward the foothills,” Wagstaffe said on CBC’s Edmonton AM.
The storm brought strong northerly winds that began early Wednesday afternoon. Between 20 and 30 millimetres of rain is expected to fall in some regions, according to an alert from Environment Canada.
Severe weather warnings are in place for a large swath of the province, including Edmonton, St. Albert and Sherwood Park.
“It’s going to be a bigger storm over the next few hours as it tightens up east of the Rockies,” Wagstaffe said.
Environment Canada is urging caution on local roads, and reminding Albertans to prepare for possible property damage from the battering winds.
“Damage to buildings, such as to roof shingles and windows, may occur,” reads an alert from Environment Canada.
“Loose objects may be tossed by the wind and cause injury or damage. Be prepared to adjust your driving with changing road conditions due to high winds.”
Commuting to work in the rain, before the wind starts gusting again. #yegwx #yeg pic.twitter.com/xTuSR3LuUp
The storm is expected to rumble its way across central parts of the province this morning, and move east to the Saskatchewan border by Wednesday afternoon.
Albertans are being asked to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada until the storm passes.
“This is a pretty complex storm but it’s fast moving. That’s the good news,” Wagstaffe said. “By tomorrow afternoon this should have kicked eastward.”