The storm system which passed through southeast Saskatchewan Thursday left behind a wake of hail and wind damage, localized flooding, and a major power outage. The system, which had the potential for tornadoes, tracked just south of Weyburn, slightly shifting northeast as it approached Estevan, hitting the city dead on.

A view of the height of the storm at the North Portal border crossing. (photo courtesy CBSA/Twitter.com)“It started moving in from the southwest,” described Matt Cinnamon in the Discover Estevan newsroom. “You could see the clouds really dark, they were getting lower and lower. You could see them circling tighter and tighter, like, you could tell there was something like a tornado wanting to form there.”

Those clouds bypassed Estevan, but then the storm itself hit with hail and rain.

In some areas, the hailstones were as large as a baseball. The rains, unable to leave city streets thanks to the hail, caused some localized flooding. Shortly after the storm ended, though, the waters were able to disperse.

SaskPower facilities were damaged in the storm, according to Jonathon Tremblay with the Crown power company.

“Not only at our structures at Boundary Dam power station, but poles and lines everywhere in the southeast, so at some point, we may have had tens of thousands of customers off,” Tremblay stated.

Fist-sized hailstones fell on North Portal during the height of the storm. (photo courtesy CBSA/Twitter.com)There were reports of the Boundary Dam station being hit by a tornado on social media. Those were quickly dispelled by SaskPower and Environment Canada, as no tornadoes touched down in Saskatchewan.

The power was restored for the region, which covered from the Manitoba border to Highway 35, and south of Weyburn, around 3:30 a.m. Work will continue to repair all the damage caused by the storm.