MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - A concerted effort continues this week to support Mountain View County residents impacted by the July 1 tornado that touched down north of Carstairs, destroying homes, killing livestock and leaving a large path of debris.
Twelve residences were hit by the tornado that the Northern Tornadoes Project has classified as an EF4: three were destroyed, four were left uninhabitable, and a further five were damaged. The group said the tornado grew to an estimated 620 metres wide and carved a path across the Alberta landscape measuring 15.3 kilometres long.
The most substantial area affected in Mountain View County was located between Range Road 22 and Range Road 12, and between Township Road 304 and Township Road 310.
About 130 volunteers turned out this past weekend to lend a hand in clean-up efforts at four of the affected properties. Work at the Neilson, Lummerdings, Braun and Penner properties have concluded. Focus is still on the Humphreys, Longmuir and two Kelsey properties.
Yesterday, organizers of the daily effort to recruit volunteers were looking for about 100 people to walk fields and pick up debris while a call-out had also been made for equipment and operators to push large debris piles.
The volunteer effort was spearheaded by Lance Douglas the day the tornado hit and continues to draw people from around the region. Visit Didsbury-Carstairs Tornado 2023 Help on Facebook to connect with volunteer organizers.
“It’s terrible and so close to home,” said Carstairs resident Brittany Gates, who was helping with cleanup at one of two heavily damaged properties on Highway 2A. “It's amazing to see the community come together. I was off work today so I came out.”
Linden-area residents Ben Campbell and Ryan Toews were helping with the cleanup last Tuesday.
“We came out to see what we can do to help out,” said Campbell, a member of the Linden Mennonite community “We are here for the day to see if we can brighten their day a little. We do what we can when we can.”
A variety of businesses have pitched in for everything from equipment and porta potties to transportation and supplies. Youth groups, sports teams, 4-H and churches are among those who have lent a hand as well.
Businesses and individuals are also supporting Mountain View County’s coordination of meals and snacks for the volunteers and those impacted.
A group of six people in the Carstairs area have formed a committee to streamline financial donations to the families who were directly impacted by the tornado.
Donations are being accepted at any ATB branch under the name Carstairs/Didsbury Tornado Relief Fund and the email address for online deposits is [email protected].
“The ATB account will be in operation, through the support of ATB Carstairs, until approximately the middle of August, when the primary fundraising will be completed. At that time, ALL funds collected will be split EQUALLY among the 14 households directly impacted by the tornado. Should any of them not require or refuse the support, that amount will be redistributed equally among the remaining households,” committee member Nadine Lampitt Vass posted on social media.
Debora Rice-Salomons, president of MVE (Mountain View Events) The Heritage Centre, said their organization decided to put together an upcoming family-friendly fundraiser featuring live musical entertainment to raise funds for those affected.
“All the people on our committee are neighbours or friends of the victims and long-term area residents,” she told the Albertan on July 7 in response to being asked what motivated them to make the arrangements.
While the original plan was to host the fundraiser at their location just east of Cremona, they ultimately opted to instead hold the event at the Carstairs Memorial Arena, a venue which offers much more space to accommodate a larger crowd, she said.
The Mountain View Tornado Benefit Concert takes place Saturday, July 29 at the Carstairs Memorial Arena from 3-8 p.m.
The event – which is being put on in partnership with local ag societies as well as Mountain View County – will feature live musical entertainment from multiple performers including the main headliner Dustin Farr, a community-minded local singer and songwriter who also works as an instructor at Olds College, she said.
“He’s very benevolent,” she said, adding Farr was among the hands assisting with cleaning up some of the affected properties.
Anyone who cannot attend in person but who nevertheless wishes to contribute may do so by cash, credit, debit, or cheque through Connect First Carstairs by mentioning the Mountain View Tornado Benefit Concert fundraiser. Alternatively, people also have the option of sending an etransfer by email to [email protected].
Funds raised will help tornado victims to cover the costs of repairing damage that was not or could not be insured.
At least one property owner’s home was not insured.
Jared Wesley has set up a GoFundMe page (My mom lost everything to a tornado) to raise money for his mother Elisa Humphreys “who lost everything today to a tornado near Carstairs, AB. There is nothing left of her home, or any of her belongings. Luckily she was able to get herself, her dog, and one cat into the car and leave moments before her home was hit. I believe the AB alert system saved her life.”
Humphreys’ mobile home was not insured, he said. A second home on the property that was sitting on ibeams waiting to be moved onto a foundation was also lost.
After narrowly dodging the proverbial bullet when the powerful Canada Day twister tore through a portion of Mountain View County, Rocky Mountain Motorsports management decided to organize a fundraiser to support those in the community who were not quite so fortunate.
“Where we are located, the tornado missed us by about two, two-and-a-half kilometres,” Dominic Young, president of the Rocky Mountain Motorsports race track near Carstairs, said during a phone interview.
“And that’s a good thing because it would have been pretty disastrous,” Young told the Albertan. “We had a motorcycle track day happening at the race track and that would have been a lot of trailers that would have been twisted and messed up, and we had a lot of people out there that would have had to have found some shelter.”
Because the raceway’s owners and membership feel a close kinship with the community that compels them to be involved where they can – and having themselves just narrowly avoided disaster – the decision was ultimately made to pitch in and help those whose properties were either completely destroyed or substantially damaged.
“We very much see ourselves as part of the community, and we wanted to see what we could do to raise some funds for the people that did get impacted by the tornado,” he said.
Although certain details were still in the process of being finalized when Young spoke with the Albertan, he said the date and location was set for Saturday, July 22 at the raceway.
“We want to have a community open house day,” he said.
People who come out to experience the track and visit the facility will also be invited to donate to the fundraiser.
“All the proceeds will go to the funds that are being aggregated for the victims,” he said.
And leading up to the July 22 fundraising event, Young said the raceway will also be soliciting further contributions from different groups that come out to use the track.
The large tornado swept through Mountain View County around 2 p.m. Saturday, July 1.
The Western University Northern Tornadoes Project determined that the tornado was an EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, making it the strongest Alberta tornado since Edmonton in 1987, according to the organization’s report of its investigation.
A Northern Tornadoes Project ground crew conducted a preliminary survey of the damage, finding evidence consistent with maximum winds of 275 kilometres an hour.
"Climatologically, the Didsbury EF4 tornado enters some rarefied territory among Canadian tornado events," according to NTP.
The organization said it is one of only three tornadoes rated F/EF4 in Alberta (the other hit the Grassy Lake area in 1915).
Across Canada, there have been only 21 'violent' tornadoes rated at F/EF4 or higher. One of these was Canada's only tornado rated at F5 - the Elie, Manitoba tornado of 2007. Most of the others (12) have been in southern Ontario. Saskatchewan and Manitoba have also experienced F4-rated tornadoes.
- With files from Lea Smaldon
