[cmperry4]

I go by Elie all the time, coming and going to my dacha, and passed by last week, noted the damage to the flour mill, which is about a quarter-mile off the Trans-Canada. I could see the line of trees along the west side of town ripped up, and where the damaged houses are. Along the highway, a shelterbelt of smallish poplars had sections with trees stripped of leaves and bark.

There's also been massive wind damage in one of the province's most popular cottage areas, the Whiteshell - thousands of trees down, damage to hundreds of cottages.

No one has been killed by these storms so ar this year, which is remarkable. The Elie folks knew what to do, got to basements and covered up.

Last year, a tornado hit a campground northeast of Winnipeg, and one woman was killed. One the same day, from our office windows in northwest Winnipeg, we watched a funnel cloud form over the northern edge of the city, but it did not touch down.

This city has been lucky so far.