‘A big loss’: Communities come together to clean up after Friday storm

Nancy Wozniak received quite a shock when she returned from her cabin Saturday morning.

The top half of the evergreen tree standing in her frontyard had snapped off in heavy winds Friday and landed on top of her house.

“These trees are huge and they are old,” said Wozniak. “They have probably been around since the town first developed.”

The tree was sitting on top of her house when she arrived at her home in Glenavon. It was sitting lopsided on top of her roof and her front deck.

A branch pierced the ceiling in Nancy Wozniak’s home in Glenavon. (Nancy Wozniak/Submitted)

“I went into my house to see if anything had happened inside,” said Wozniak. “Sure enough, one of the big branch stems had poked right through the roof and into my master bedroom.”

She said there was some water damage from the rain, but much of the water was caught by the garbage can sitting near her window.

Wozniak was away camping with her six-year-old son for the weekend when the storm hit Glenavon. She was phoned by a friend who let her know that her house had been hit.

On Friday night when the storm struck at Crooked Lake she said they completely lost power. She found out why on the drive home.

“As I was driving home between Grenfell and Crooked Lake, I saw 30 to 40 power poles just blown right out of the ground or snapped off,” said Wozniak. “I thought there must have been a tornado to come through for that kind of damage to happen.”

When she drove through Grenfell, she saw trailers “completely decimated” and tree branches shredded all down the streets.

After returning home to assess the damage, she was helped by friends who came by with a picker truck and lifted the tree off her home.

The top half of an evergreen is removed from Nancy Wozniak’s home in Glenavon. (Nancy Wozniak/Submitted)

They spent a couple of hours taking limbs off the tree and cutting it up so the town could haul it away in the morning.

“There’s something about small towns that people just band together and help everyone out whenever there is a need, or a crisis,” Wozniak said.

Wozniak said nobody from the insurance agency could come until next week, so one of her friends — who is a carpenter — came to patch up the roof for the time being.

“It could have been a lot worse,” said Wozniak. “I am surprised it happened the way that it did. But I’m glad we weren’t at home when it happened, that’s for sure.”

Crews cut up the evergreen that was on top of Nancy Wozniak’s home in Glenavon. (Nancy Wozniak/Submitted)

Glenavon, Grenfell and the surrounding areas were hit hard by the storm. Many trees took a beating from the winds, but many buildings also were damaged. The Grenfell grain elevator bins were concave after the storm, and a semi-truck was flipped on its side blocking the entrance to the community.

Nancy’s oldest son, Braedyn Wozniak, said it’s going to be especially tough for Grenfell with damage to a lot of the town’s recreational facilities.

The Grenfell rink, pool and campgrounds are all located in the same area. A third of the rink’s roof was damaged during Friday night’s storm.

“It was so loved by the community,” said Braedyn. “You rip the roof off the hockey change rooms, you’re pretty much uncovering the pool change rooms.”

Braedyn was frequently at the Grenfell arena and pool as a child. The Glenavon hockey team combined with the Grenfell hockey team so they would have enough players.

“Playing with the Grenfell guys was a lot of fun, and the rink was so nice,” said Braedyn.

The team even brought home a few championships throughout his years playing. Braedyn said he has many more fond memories.

(Grenfell Spitfires/Twitter)

“I used the arena for hockey in the winter and for swimming in the summer,” said Braedyn. “It’s such a big loss.”

While the cleanup has been going on for days, Braedyn said the communities are resilient.

“Hockey is such a big part of the community, so seeing the roof ripped off the rink will have a lot of people fired up,” he said. “They are probably putting together an effort right now.”