Published online at GlobalTVEdmonton.com on July 18, 2011.
Linda Hoang, Global News: Monday, July 18, 2011
Early morning storm hits Edmonton, causes flight delays
A summer storm rolled into the Capital Region from the west early this morning.
Flash lightning and roaring thunder could be heard throughout the Edmonton area as rain and hail fell and the skies lit up.
Between 5:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. 758 lightning strikes were recorded in south Edmonton alone.
The weather caused a number of flight delays at the Edmonton International Airport.
“We did have a ground halt from about 5:30 a.m. until sometime after 7 a.m.,” said Traci Bednard, EIA spokeswoman.
“We do see that from time to time, it’s generally not in our morning peak so the difference this morning was that it was at that sweet part when we see a lot of flights departing.”
The storm also caused some leaking in the building but Bednard said there are long term impacts or terminal damage.
There are also reports that lightning may have also started a fire that damaged a unit at the Evergreen Mobile Home Park.
Fire crews arrived at the site in northeast Edmonton around 6:20 a.m.
“They found flames coming through the roof of the trailer, they attacked it quickly and got it under control,” said fire district chief John Bower.
The weather also caused a number of power outages in surrounding areas.
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