BC

Grand Forks wind storm July 21, 2012

Photo: Contributed - Sue Thomson

Tree lands on a house and a car

Photo: Contributed - Sue Thomson

The wind peeled back this roof

Photo: Contributed - Sue Thomson

A motor home is hit by a tree

Photo: Contributed - Sue Thomson

A row of trees is knocked down

Photo: Contributed - Sue Thomson

A tree lands on a roof

Photo: Contributed - Sue Thomson

A tree seems to have engulfed this car it just hit

Photo: Contributed - Sue Thomson

A tree sits on top of a house

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Update: An 11-year-old boy is dead after trees crushed his summer camp cabin during a severe storm.

Police say the accident took place Friday afternoon at the Pines Bible Camp near Grand Forks.

They say that during the storm, winds snapped off trees, causing two to fall through the roof of a hut, crushing the boy who was inside.

Police say several other children were also injured during the incident.

About 65 children were attending the camp at the time, and the RCMP say victim services has called in counsellors to help the boy's family and other youths.

Police have not yet released the name of the boy who they say is a resident of Christina Lake.

By Sue Thomson

The wind storm that hit the Okanagan Friday evening also caused extensive damage in the Grand Forks area, bringing down power lines all over the valley, uprooting trees and snapping tall evergreens off like matchsticks. As the wind blew in, great clouds of dirt from the potato fields blanketed the sky.

Photo: Contributed - Sue Thomson

Split pole - A storm remnant

John Malin, whose house in the ValMar subdivision was one of the worst damaged, had a bull pine hit his house lengthwise, crushing the entire house, blowing out the living room picture window and sending the ceiling in the living room out through the opening. He'd already removed the dangerous trees on his own property but couldn't convince his neighbor to remove theirs.

At another residence, a long row of about 10 trees was uprooted, leaving one lone tree standing in the middle of them. Another house, along with a truck, got hit by another tree and on the next street over, a motorhome had the back end crushed.

In the Vienna Woods subdivision, a power pole split from top to bottom from the pressure of the lines on the poles along the road toppling over and taking the weight of trees on the wires. Numerous trees came down in the Woods and two hours later they continued to fall over.

Out in the valley, a metal roof was curled over by the force of the wind. Roads around the airport were closed due to downed trees, power poles and wires.

All over town, gazebos, trampolines, temporary garages and satellite dishes blew away while large and small trees toppled bringing up manicured lawns with their root balls.

FortisBC and City of Grand Forks electrical crews closed numerous streets to remove trees from downed power lines.