Constable Lance Bouvier with the Smeaton Detachment of the RCMP said they were kept busy Saturday night after reports of a tornado touching down.

“About five miles south of Smeaton a tornado had touched down and it headed north. It went through four farms and farm fields and left a path of destruction. The first farm it went through toppled a bunch of trees and leveled a chicken coop and threw trees around the yard. It continued further north and got to another farm and it leveled everything and leveled a house,” Bouvier said.

Bouvier said the house had been moved 30 feet from its foundation and only had two walls left after the tornado went through the property.

The man was not injured but shaken up.

Lyle White the fire chief of Smeaton and District Fire and Rescue received the call to attend the scene shortly after 8 p.m.

"We had a call of a tornado hitting a farm and a man missing," White said. "When we arrived, I did meet the gentleman; the owner, when we got to the yard and we realized there wasn't anybody missing ... when we arrived on the scene the house was pretty much destroyed."

He described trees were torn down, machinery had been tossed around, and there was no roof on the garage.

Lyn Brown was on her way into town when she witnessed the twister from Hwy 55.

"After we saw the touchdown we were bombarded by quarter size hail as we turned into Smeaton."

"The noise in the truck was deafening, it sounded like we were being pelted with rocks, " Brown said.

The tornado than moved further north and hit another farm yard where it leveled more structures, uprooted trees and even snapped power poles like toothpicks.

“The family there was inside the house, but they were in the basement when it went through. No one was injured or hurt at that residence. Then it went across the street to another farm yard, and there it leveled a bunch of trees, it didn’t hit the house or other outbuildings. Soon after that it dissipated, the tornado lost its energy. There is a lot of damage,” Bouvier said.

Bouvier said the tornado spanned about three miles and the Smeaton area had sever rain, hail and wind.

There is a lot of water in the area but Bouvier said there is nothing in the way of flooding.

Power lines had been destroyed in the area, but SaskPower crews were on scene quickly and restored power within four hours.

Second sighting

That wasn't the only report of a twister on Saturday night. The paNOW newsroom was flooded with photos of a sighting near Anglin Lake and Emma Lake.

One witness said she narrowly got off the water before a bad storm hit Anglin Lake, located about 60 kilometres north of Prince Albert.

She said hail and high winds knocked down trees.

The same storm cell spawned a tornado in the area, however that has not been confirmed by Environment Canada.

Devon and Shannon Billo watched the ominous clouds roll in from their camper at Sunnyside Beach at Emma Lake, located south of Anglin Lake.

They said they saw a funnel cloud appear to touch down twice around 6:30 p.m.

For the remainder of the evening thunderstorm watches were in effect for central and eastern areas of the province.

news@panow.com