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PHOTOS: Osoyoos and area besieged by crushing Wednesday windstorm

The Okanagan border town of Osoyoos was battered Wednesday afternoon by a short-lived but vicious windstorm that some residents equated to a "tornado."

<who>Photo Credit: Gord Goble</who>

The worst of the storm apparently lasted no longer than a few minutes, according to three residents and an Osoyoos public works employee PentictonNow spoke with, in person, less than an hour after the event.

<who>Photo Credit: Gord Goble</who>

Yet the damage was considerable. All over town and into the RDOS land that surrounds it, massive trees and their root systems were ripped from the ground, branches were strewn about like matchsticks, and utility lines were downed.

<who>Photo Credit: Gord Goble</who> Large tree lies across Hwy 97

Several neighbourhoods were without power. Traffic blockages were common. Many rooftops were damaged.

<who>Photo Credit: Gord Goble</who>

A particularly large tree that fell across Hwy 97 near 122nd Ave. blocked the thoroughfare entirely for a minimum of two hours. Firefighters played the role of traffic flag people.

<who>Photo Credit: Gord Goble</who>

Damage seemed especially potent northwest of the town boundary, along the Hwy 97 corridor.

<who>Photo Credit: Gord Goble</who>

Regan Pain, a resident of 87 St., said it was "definitely a tornado or a whirlwind – one or the other."

<who>Photo Credit: Gord Goble</who>

Pain was in his vehicle as the storm hit.

"I was in my vehicle and it was just shaking," he said, "and I happened to look out the back window and saw a few raindrops. And then all of a sudden the wind got wild and it was here."

<who>Photo Credit: Gord Goble</who>

According to Pain, "a half-dozen or more big trees by the lake were snapped in half."

But, he added, it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared.

<who>Photo Credit: Gord Goble</who>

"I thought we were about to get round two, but it suddenly lifted and went over Anarchist Mountain."

Neighbour Debbie Billows called it "crazy."

<who>Photo Credit: Gord Goble</who>

"I was inside and I just felt the rain hitting the building," she said. "And then the wind was phenomenal. I didn’t dare step outside. It was safer inside.

"It lifted a paddle board over our house, over the swimming pool and over the far fence."

<who>Photo Credit: Gord Goble</who>

Billows believes the event rates second only to a full-blown hurricane she experienced in Mexico.

"For this area, I've never felt anything this bad," she said. Though she agreed with Pain that it was over in a matter of minutes.

<who>Photo Credit: Gord Goble</who>

"Five, maybe six top," she said.

Just down the street, an anonymous resident took a break from directing traffic past fallen trees to tell us the storm had picked up a camper stored in her driveway and moved it to a new position.

<who>Photo Credit: Gord Goble</who>

"It felt just like a tornado," she said.

A public works employee clearing a roadway said there was little warning of the oncoming carnage, adding that "we all got phone calls and were told to come back to work."

<who>Photo Credit: Gord Goble</who>

The official Environment Canada forecast for Thursday in Osoyoos calls for "increasing cloudiness" and winds from the south at 30 km/h, gusting to 60. The temperature will top out at 18.

<who>Photo Credit: Gord Goble</who>



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