A preliminary assessment Saturday by meterologists at Elie, the community west of Winnipeg hardest hit by the twister, shows that wind speeds would have reached between 331 and 417 kilometres.

Tornadoes are categorized on what is known as the Fujita scale, which rates their severity based on the damage they cause. F4 and F5 tornadoes are the most violent. Winds in the F4 range can level well-constructed houses and structures, cars and other large objects some distance.

Eye witness accounts of the tornado in the Eli area, about 35 kilometres west of Winnipeg, suggest it was on the ground for about 30 to 40 minutes and travelled a distance of about 5.5 kilometres.

Recovery operations began first thing Saturday in Elie where the tornado tore through a residential street and damaged a flour mill.

Reeve Roland Rasmussen of the Rural Municipality of Cartier says it‘s a miracle no lives were lost and no one was seriously injured.

“We will now focus our attention on helping people who lost homes, vehicles and property, and the cleanup of the devastated areas,‘‘ Rasmussen said in a release.

“Our emergency plan and municipal response system went into effect as soon as word of the pending tornado reached us.‘‘

Rasmussen said the tornado was reported to have touched down on the south side of town where the nearby main CN rail line had to be closed overnight.

The damaged area was to remain off-limits until cleanup was completed, although utilities and other infrastructure were restored.

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer toured the most seriously damaged areas around Elie and indicated some sort of disaster assistance would be made available to the municipality.

The tornado tore a swath about 300 metres wide through the community. It also tossed several trucks into fields and caused a semi to roll into the ditch on the Trans-Canada Highway.

Thunderstorms were forecast for the area again Saturday night after a day-time high expected to be around 30 C.

PIN/Oilweek.Com