Southern Alberta homeowners face massive cleanup, rebuild after devastating storm

Monday's devastating storm in southeast Alberta has some families facing the daunting task of rebuilding and putting the pieces of their lives back together after losing nearly all their possessions.

Monday's devastating storm in southeast Alberta has some families facing the daunting task of rebuilding and putting the pieces of their lives back together after losing nearly all their possessions.

Strong wind turned regular items into projectiles that ripped through homes, damaged vehicles, sent at least one garage airborne and had people running for shelter.

The catastrophic storm produced funnel clouds but, as of Wednesday, no confirmed tornado touchdowns in the area outside Medicine Hat.

Ryan DePape was outside his Cypress County home with his six-year-old and four-year-old sons Monday afternoon when the storm appeared to manifest out of nowhere.

"We were playing and then it happened fast, got dark and rainy and windy," recounted DePape. "So I shuttled them inside, buttoned up the house. I sent them downstairs and just when that happened, a wind came from the south, and gusted every window, broke every window in the main floor and sent glass across the main floor.

"At that point, debris — two-by-fours, shredded two-by-fours — penetrated the windows. They basically speared through the house and they're still sticking in the interior drywall right now. One went right by me, so (I) dove down there, down the stairs, just to get out of it."