5 people injured after tornado hits campground near Alberta

It was a frightening night for people in two areas of eastern Alberta, near the Saskatchewan border, after reports of two tornadoes touching down.

Environment Canada meteorologist Julien Corrizeau said five people were injured.

Vanessa Gomez, spokesperson for Acute Care Alberta, said three adults were taken to hospital — one in life-threatening condition.

The first tornado was reported southwest of Paradise Valley, about 40 minutes south of Lloydminster.

It prompted “a critical” Alberta Emergency Alert to be issued for the area, just before 7:30 p.m. warning of a possible tornado.

It was updated about 10 minutes later to say Environment Canada meteorologists were tracking a severe thunderstorm that “is producing a tornado.”

The emergency alert warned of “a very dangerous and potentially life-threatening situation.”

Corrizeau said, so far, there are no reports of damage from the first tornado.

However, a second tornado touched down about half an hour later at the Dillberry Lake Provincial Campground — located about 75 kilometres east of Paradise Valley and just southeast of Chauvin, Alta.

In a post on social media, the Municipal District of Wainwright said emergency responders were on scene and the public was being asked to avoid the area.

The RCMP said the campground was evacuated and everyone had been accounted for – but Environment Canada said five people were injured and there was significant damage to trailers, with some being completely destroyed.

Chris Robinson had been at a Dillberry campsite with his family Wednesday evening when an initial emergency alert indicated a tornado in the area, he said.

But it was farther north, where the sky had quickly turned black and the clouds started rumbling.

He said there was non-stop thunder for a long period before the storm hit, even though it was still sunny at their campsite.

They were playing cards before another emergency alert came in.

“I saw a massive funnel cloud appear then disappear just off to the west of us,” he said in a Facebook message.

That’s when they decided to get away from the area, he said.

“As we were leaving our campsite, we could see the funnel cloud reforming and getting larger, still just west of us.

By the time we made it to the main entry road by the park shack, the tornado had touched down and was right in (front) of us coming toward us along the entry road.”

Then came heavy rain and hail hitting their truck, he said, and trees started falling — so they turned around.

“It all happened so fast,” said Robinson.

“I was prepared to drive through a fence if we needed to escape the area, as there was limited options for safe shelter out there,” he added.

They parked by some trees then returned to the campground.

They saw damaged cabins and flattened trees, he said, as well as overturned and destroyed trailers.

They helped other campers until emergency responders arrived, then packed up to go home.

Mike Wildeboer, reeve of the Municipal District of Wainwright, expressed relief that there was no loss of life.

“Our thoughts are with those affected and with everyone working through the aftermath of this event,” he said.

The Alberta Emergency Alert was cancelled shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday after the storm system moved east into Saskatchewan.

The Dillberry Lake campground has about 40 sites — but a notice, posted on its website, says it is closed “until further notice to ensure public safety while we assess tornado damage.”

Researchers from the Northern Tornadoes Project are also deploying a team to the area to investigate.

Environment Canada’s daily “thunderstorm outlook” says there is a “high” probability of more severe thunderstorms on Thursday, particularly in south-central Alberta – around Calgary and Red Deer.

With files from The Canadian Press.