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Old 12-20-2004, 08:17 PM
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From: http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Edmont...90638-sun.html


"Wind storm deadly

SHANE HOLLADAY and AJAY BHARDWAJ, EDMONTON SUN

Staff at Rabbit Hill help about two dozen riders off a chairlift yesterday after a windstorm. The brief wind and hailstorm did extensive damage throughout central Alberta. (Photo: PRESTON BROWNSCHLAIGLE, Sun)

A snow-kite sailing trip across frozen Lac St. Anne ended in tragedy yesterday when 100-kmh winds slammed a man and his snowboard into the side of an abandoned church, killing him. The 48-year-old man was caught in severe winds that swept through a strip of central Alberta, stretching from Edson to the Saskatchewan border which felled trees, toppled a radio tower, flipped small planes, tore up roofs and knocked out power to more than 29,000 people.

Stony Plain RCMP Cpl. Gary Popeil said high winds hit the lake at about noon, as the unnamed victim was using a parachute or kite to tow him across the lake on a snowboard.

"When that front came through, it was a bad idea, but these winds came out of nowhere," Popeil said.

"It came through at 100 kmh. He was out there doing his thing when this thing came through, so he kind of lost control.

"I don't know what speed he actually struck at, but witnesses said he struck at significant speed."

The man slammed into an abandoned church in Alberta Beach, 4820 50 Ave., suffering severe blunt trauma to his entire body, Popeil said.

Environment Canada had reports of planes at the Villeneuve airport flipping over in the high winds.

In Mayerthorpe, 106 km northwest of Edmonton, wind blasts knocked out the ambulance and fire dispatch tower, said disaster services director Arnold Lotholz.

"It folded it in half,"said Lotholz.

A backup system kicked in and Lotholz figured only one emergency call was missed, which wasn't major.

Just outside the city, at the Rabbit Hill Ski Racing Club, gusts derailed one of the ski slope's chairlifts, forcing the rescue of 45 people who were on the lift at the time.

Club co-owner Bill Oak said skiiers and snowboarders were hooked into a harness and lowered to the ground.

"The thing is, that burst of wind came up so fast on us, there was just no opportunity to offload the chair," Oak said.

Winds between 70 and 100 kmh slammed into the city about 12:15 p.m., knocking trees into power lines, onto cars and across city streets before dying down about an hour later.

The Emergency Response Department said they tackled 30 or more calls involving toppled trees or broken power lines.

Epcor spokesman Doug Downs said winds knocked out power to some 9,000 city residents yesterday afternoon.

City man Marty Trimble, who lives near 163 Avenue and 78 Street, said he saw winds snap his neighbour's 10-metre-tall spruce tree in half in seconds.

"It whipped back, whipped forward six feet, whipped back six feet and then just snapped off at about the six-foot mark, and landed right on the roof of his car," Trimble said. "The wind storm hit so fast, it was incredible."

Power was out from Edson east to Edmonton, north as far as Westlock, then as far south as Red Deer, according to FortisAlberta, which supplies electricity to those areas.

"We've had trees blown into power lines... and in one case we even had a shed blow into a power line,"said FortisAlberta spokesman Mona Bartsoff.

"At one point there (were) around 20,000 of our customers without power."

Crews expected to fully restore power by 9 p.m. last night, she said."
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