Woman whose home was destroyed by tornado estimates 100 people came to help clean up

Elisa Humphreys knew she needed help after a tornado razed two buildings on her estate in central Alberta this weekend.

But her plea for help on social media eventually attracted dozens of local volunteers who stepped forward to help clean up the shattered remains of the house and mobile home that once stood there.

Humphreys estimated there were 100 helpers on her property just north east of Carstairs on Sunday afternoon – so many that one person’s only job was to direct others where to park. But she said Saturday’s tornado provided more than enough work.

“It’s like a broken house of confetti for a few miles away,” Humphreys said in a telephone interview, pausing frequently to personally thank each volunteer.

“It’s like a plane crash and a debris field.”

Five homes were completely destroyed after the twister passed between Carstairs and Didsbury early Saturday afternoon, Carstairs fire chief Jordan Schaffer said Saturday. That included a house where rescuers had a woman from her basement.

Although other homes were damaged, no one was killed. There are no reports of serious injuries, although numerous animals, including cows, chickens and a horse, died or were euthanized, police said.

Marianna Greenhough, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said two meteorologists were in the area Sunday to conduct a damage survey in conjunction with the Northern Tornadoes Project.

Connell Miller, a technical researcher with the group, said the tornado was likely the strongest to hit the county since 2000, when a tornado hit a campground at Pine Lake near Red Deer, Alta.

Eleven people died, including a two-year-old child from Brampton, Ont. A 12th person died in hospital a month later.

“There were plenty of opportunities where if something had gone just a little bit different, people could have been seriously hurt,” Miller said of Saturday’s twister, adding a strength that probably won’t be available until Tuesday.

Humphreys said she was doing some work on her couch on Saturday afternoon, getting a cup of coffee when she got an emergency call.

“I hadn’t gotten out of my pajamas. I had no bra on, I hadn’t brushed my teeth and then the alarm went off on my phone and I looked out the window, and there was just a huge tornado,” she said.

Because she lived in a mobile home, it wasn’t safe to stay, and she said the other house on her property was on I-beams and not on a foundation. So she jumped into her car in her pajamas and drove off, watching from a distance as the massive funnel cloud “shredded” her property.

Humphreys quickly returned once the tornado had passed to find two of her horses injured, one of which had to be put down by a vet. A neighbor found another horse down the road. In a nearby coulee, she said, trees nearly three stories high were piled on top of each other.

On Sunday, volunteers found family photos among the rubble and stored them in resealable bags. One took her injured cat to the vet. Many offered gift certificates — she had $500 in her hands as she spoke to The Canadian Press.

She said she hoped someone would find some clothes, noting that she spent the day in a borrowed outfit after taking shelter with her son’s boyfriend on Saturday night.

Humphreys said she is not at all surprised by the community’s generosity. One of her neighbors, who she says lost his entire farm in the tornado, even offered support.

“When I spoke to him on the phone, he said, ‘If you need anything, Elisa, let me know,'” she said.

Alberta’s minister of public safety and emergency services, Mike Ellis, tweeted Saturday that the Alberta Emergency Management Agency is working with local officials.

“To those affected, know that the province is here for you during this difficult time,” the tweet read.

Humphreys said she was not insured because of the types of structures on her property.

Police on Sunday asked motorists to stay away from the tornado zone because so many people stopped to watch it was causing problems for first responders still in the area.

They said they charged one woman with careless driving and distracted driving after claiming she parked in the middle of the road and took photos even as officers told her to continue driving. Officers also had to respond to a collision in the area because people weren’t paying attention to the road, police said.

Greenhough said Alberta typically sees 15 tornadoes a year, based on data collected between 1980 and 2009. This year, she said the province already has 13.