Thunderstorm blows through Edmonton, leaves behind road closures, power outages

Thousands of Edmontonians were left without power

A powerful thunderstorm blasted through Edmonton Friday evening, leaving behind downed trees, road closures and power outages.

EPCOR reported that nearly 14,000 Edmontonians have been affected by power outages in the northern half of the city.

Inglewood, Garneau, Glenora, Balwin, Abbottsfield and Alberta Avenue were just some neighbourhoods affected by the outage. Weather is listed as the cause for several of those outages by the power company.

EPCOR's power outages website said power will be restored to those neighbourhoods later Friday night and early Saturday morning.

A spokesperson for the Edmonton Police Service said the storm has caused several road closures along Yellowhead Trail because of flooding.

A stretch of road between 111 Avenue and 118 Avenue is closed because of a downed tree.

Police are also asking Edmontonians to avoid calling the non-emergency complaint line unless the matter is urgent, as police respond to calls related to the recent storm.

The storm came after Environment Canada issued several tornado and thunderstorm warnings around Edmonton earlier that day.

A brief tornado warning was issued at 5:34 p.m. for parts of Parkland and Yellowhead counties. The alert lifted for Parkland County at 5:49 p.m. and Yellowhead County at 6:27 p.m.

The tornado warnings were one of several issued by Environment Canada during the past three days. One of those tornados touched down in Dillberry Lake Provincial Park Wednesday evening, sending three people to the hospital.

An Environment Canada meteorologist told CBC News that Alberta can expect more tornado related activity in the next six weeks.