The long weekend was a time to relax for many. For Julie Atter, it was time to recover what she could from the wreckage of her two-story garage.
On June 24, a powerful storm hit Trapper's Cove, a development at the north end of Good Spirit Lake. It destroyed Atter's garage and portions of roof at two different homes.
The damage was caused by a funnel cloud which produced short but destructive winds as it plodded through the area, said Atter.
The trees in front of her cabin were trampled by this force. It continued by lifting her garage off the ground and scattering its remains. The second floor of the garage was dropped across the road while its contents lay near the cement pad which the building once sat on.
The front part of Ray and Karen Muir's roof "is nothing but sky" after that evening, commented Atter. Despite being covered with plastic, Atter's neighbours were forced to move out until the damage is repaired.
The roof of Walter Ostoforoff's house suffered major damage when a grain bin hit his roof. Many other grain bins were picked up and mangled during the storm.
According to Atter, Ostoforoff was the only witness to a tornado that evening. He could not be reached for comment.
A farmyard to the east of Trapper's Cove also suffered extensive storm damage. The lack of visibility left Brenda and Larry Ostoforoff unsure of what had hit them.
"It was night and you can't really see a foot in front of you. So what was it? I don't know. Hopefully someone will tell us," said Brenda Ostoforoff.
Her brother in Buchanan had seen a funnel cloud to the south, said Brenda. The wind that night was much more powerful than anything they had experienced before.
"We had a plough wind once," she said. "That was nothing compared to what this was damage-wise."
The storm turned 18 grain bins on their side in the family's bin yard, several of which landed on and damaged two augers.
Sitting still during the storm left the family feeling helpless, said Brenda Ostoforoff. "You are losing half your yard so that's your lifetime of work that you're watching disappear."
Larry Ostoforoff was one of many counting themselves lucky following the storm.
"It's just one of those freaks of nature that passed through," he said. "Thank goodness it hit the bins and not the house. Nobody got hurt."
