Wild storm leaves parts of southern Manitoba walloped by water

Ian Bickis and Brittany Hobson Winnipeg The Canadian Press Published YesterdayUpdated 5 hours ago Open this photo in gallery: A downed tree is shown in Winnipeg on Wednesday. Parts of southern Manitoba are in clean-up mode after a storm brought torrential downpours, tennis ball-sized hail chunks and unconfirmed reports of tornadoes. Brittany Hobson/The Canadian Press Save for laterPlease log in to bookmark this story. Log InCreate Free Account Residents in a Manitoba town famous for its limestone were busy mopping up and pumping out Wednesday after overnight torrential rain flooded basements and swamped its cemetery and signature Quarry Park. It was after midnight when water burst through Sabrina Cornwell’s basement in Stonewall, just north of Winnipeg. It rose quickly, taking with it the small-business owner’s at-home hair salon. “My family and I ... we had to scramble and save all the important things,” she told The Canadian Press. “You just think in the state of an emergency what’s priority, and you do your best.” A few hours later, after clearing what they could from the water-soaked basement, the family turned off the lights and let the sump pumps take over. Outside the home, water flooded streets, preventing vehicles from getting through. In some cases, cars had to be abandoned. Cornwell lives down the street from her sister, but they couldn’t get to each other because the water was knee-high. “The storm was actually scary ... the fear of the unknown. We don’t know what to do, how to respond because everything is happening so quickly,” said Cornwell. Residents in a Manitoba town famous for its limestone were kept busy mopping up and pumping out after overnight torrential rains flooded basements and swamped its cemetery and the signature Quarry Park. The Canadian Press She’s now looking for an alternate space to run her business, which is booked until mid-July with graduation hair appointments. Stonewall was one of several municipalities in cleanup mode after the overnight downpour that delivered sheets of water, tennis ball-size hail and unconfirmed reports of tornadoes. Environment Canada said the area was hit with 255 millimetres of rain – a level about as high as a wine bottle, not counting the neck. “I’ve never experienced anything like this before in Stonewall. This is an unprecedented amount of rain,” said Mayor Sandra Smith, who noted the town last experienced overland flooding in 2010. “We’ll just pray that we have sunny skies here for the next 24 to 48 hours.” Severe weather caused more than $2.4-billion in insured damage in 2025 , streets were drying as drivers navigated shallow pools of water.