Most of those I spoke to about the tornado that ripped through Gull Lake, the Tall Timber Lodge area and the Pointe du Bois area were in disbelief. How could this happen? What was the extent of the damage? Why weren’t we warned? These were all questions that kept coming up time and again. One didn’t need to witness the horror first hand because of the newspaper accounts and pictures, and the coverage on the news. The devastation that was apparent made those areas touched by the tornado look like a war zone, and the shock, horror and disappointment in the faces of those directly impacted by the damage caused all of us to feel the pain.

I heard about the tornado within a couple of hours of the tornado touching down, and by that time our emergency personnel, our police, and ambulance crews were on the scene to coordinate rescue efforts and to ensure that those who were injured were treated. I am proud of the efforts of our response teams and I commend our Municipalities for implementing their Emergency Response plans efficiently and effectively – I thank them all for their efforts. The next day my family attended church as always, and our prayers had special meaning that day. Later, I toured some of the area to witness first hand the destruction that had taken place. I was thankful for the extraordinary efforts of our Manitoba Hydro crews, many of whom worked around the clock in order to restore service and to alleviate the danger of broken power lines.

After witnessing the destruction, I was thankful that more people were not injured or killed. My best wishes go out to those who were injured and my condolences to the family who lost a loved one. My sympathy goes out to those who lost their possessions.

What more can be done? Manitoba does not have a province-wide public warning system in place to warn of an impending natural disaster. By comparison, in Alberta, officials have the authority to briefly take over the electronic media to provide a warning. It’s difficult to say whether an Alberta-like warning system would have made a difference last weekend, but clearly more can be done to ensure that the public is warned as early as possible and more can be done to educate Manitobans about what severe weather looks like and what should be done if a severe storm is coming.

The Province can also assist in the cost of the clean up, and compensate for damage that is not covered by insurance because it is an uninsurable risk. It can also reimburse Municipalities for damage to infrastructure. The Province must step up to the plate first, and not wait for other levels of government. Assistance is needed now! In a disaster, there should be immediate assistance.