UPDATE: July 15, 2019, 12:00 pm - The Town of Eston stated they are still assessing the damage from yesterday's storm, however, it is clear that the majority of the town has sustained various levels of damage. 

Reportedly, the southwest corner received the brunt of the storm and suffered major damages. The Town of Eston shared one home was lost due to the storm and reports continue to come in outlining the severity in other areas, including the landfill office ad the rink roof. 

Still, no injuries have been reported and the Town states clean-up is well underway with all hands on deck from the Town, RM, fire crews, SaskPower and the community

Joel Cherry, spokesperson for SaskPower, said following their morning meeting no definitive timeline has been given as to when the town will have power fully restored.

"We've been working closely with the Town of Eston to assess the damage from the storm last night. There was severe storm related damage in Eston and area, in one case, there was a whole line of poles come down, so when that happens, we have to rebuild that line completely new".

Cherry said local crews and from other areas including Swift Current will be promptly working to set new power poles today and restore power as quickly as possible. 

At this time, no unique circumstances pose a concern, although extensive, the damages sustained in Eston are not unprecedented, however, he said they will know more once they start working to repair the downed lines. 

 

Original Post - 

The severe and damaging winds that tore through Eston yesterday, has left the town riddled with debris and without power as officials work to create an action plan to get the town in working order once again.

The Town of Eston took to social media last night warning residents of areas to avoid and to announce they opened the Eston Full Gospel Church as an Emergency Operations Centre for those who required shelter or assistance in the wake of the storm.

This morning, the Town released the following statement regarding the damaging storm.

At approximately 7:45pm Sunday July 14 Eston was hit with a damaging storm. We are grateful to share that there were no fatalities or serious injuries to report.

The Town did activate our Emergency Operations Centre at 8:50pm and assisted the small number of people who were evacuated from their homes.

Public works crews, fire department, Sask Power and Sask Energy worked into the evening to secure the damaged areas last night. We have been advised that the power outage is expected to last for a minimum of 24 hours. If residents require assistance, we are asking them to call 306-838-3271 or come to the Town Office on Main Street.

The Town wants to thank the surrounding communities for their outpouring of support. We are respectfully requesting that those who don’t need to be in Eston to please not travel here today. We want to use all available resources for locals at this time. Should this change, we will be sure to update the public.

A spokesperson for SaskPower stated that the company’s operation staff members were meeting this morning to create an action plan for the area.

“We had significant damage in the Eston area yesterday evening, power was off overnight for safety reasons. This morning we’re putting an action plan together, to make sure we can get repairs made and power restored as soon as possible, right now we do not have an estimated restore time though”.

More details will be available later this morning after officials are able to assess and discuss the extent of the damage.

Terri Lang, Meteorologist with Environment Canada, shared they are unable to confirm if it was a tornado or plow winds that passed through the town.

“We haven’t received any videos of tornadoes from that area. We certainly have seen some videos of some very strong winds that came out of that cell, so we’re still trying to determine whether it was a tornado or not, or whether it was a very strong plow wind”.

Lang stated that plow winds, or straight-line winds, can create extensive damage as they can reach in excess of 130 km/h and can be prevalent in Saskatchewan, especially this time of year.

West Central Online will continue to provide updates on the Town of Eston and weather from around the region as details become available.