Red Deer Archives (VC203)

By Gary McKinnon

20 years later

Reflecting on the Pine Lake tornado

Jul 13, 2020 | 9:59 AM

I first heard about the Pine Lake tornado arriving at the Pine Lake Hub Community Centre Saturday morning to play in a slo-pitch tournament.

A number of our players and members of other teams were camped there the previous night when the storm passed by a little south of the area.

Damages at the campsites were minor. But the carnage a little further east was devastating.

Some of our players went down to ground zero in a school bus to evacuate some of the people back to the Hub Centre.

The teams that were camping up at the ball diamonds cleaned out their trailers and motorhomes of blankets, towels, pillows, eye glasses, etc., to try and comfort the evacuees as best they could.

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As I arrived at work to go on air Monday morning, it would become the biggest news story that I was part of covering in over 30+ years of broadcasting at Radio 7 and BIG 105.

All media were required to meet at Living Stones Church and then RCMP escorted to the tornado site. In the early days after the storm, access was not allowed to the media unless there was some sort of police presence.

The Pine Lake Tornado dominated our news coverage for months.

News Director Lamya Asiff directed our team to not just focus on the number of fatalities, but to move forward and try to humanize the story that was unfolding to all those affected by this life changing storm.

We began focusing on the impact to families, the tireless work of first responders and even those involved in the cleanup of the site from the removal of trailers and so much other debris from the lake itself.

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At this time of reflection, I think of those families who lost loved ones and it still makes me sad.

But I am also very proud of those ball teams that were camping that Friday night and their effort to help.

To the first responders, STARS, employees of Red Deer County and City and many more people including ordinary every day citizens, Thank You.

“Central Alberta Strong.”