High winds wreaked havoc on Emo area last Tuesday

Milt Guba

There were storm warnings out by Environment Canada for Monday night and through Tuesday but it was not until the early hours of Tuesday morning that the district got a shock of high winds, showers and thunderstorms that came suddenly with intense severity.

The high winds damaged property on the farm of Ralph Hunsperger’s North of Emo. According to the couple it just flattened all that was in the way of high winds. At Emo Hospital a tree was up rooted.

Most noticeable was the damage caused at Manitou Forest Products. Upon arrival of Manager Dale Kaemingh, he noticed something out of the ordinary had taken place. “The power was off, the main power source near the planing building area had severed wires dangling dangerously all over the property,” said Kaemingh. The sawdust facility was destroyed, an empty trailer was on its side, the Planing building had the southwest corner ripped away with tin scattered down the logs to the north side. Everything was a mess to say the least,” he said.

“The electric clock on the planing building inside wall stopped at 6:40 a.m., that would indicate when the storm struck,” added Kaemingh. He was hoping that the power would be back in a couple days to activate the computer etc. to at least get the office into motion. The rest depends on the adjuster to appraise the damage and insurance people.

Kaemingh would not comment on the damage in dollars, but said it could be in the area of two or three hundred thousand.