A powerful storm passed through central Alberta Tuesday evening, hitting the Red Deer area hard – and crews were working to clear up damage Wednesday. However, the cleanup proved to be difficult and it may take longer for some areas to get back to normal.

“As of 11:47 p.m. last night, the emergency management committee of council was called in and declared a local emergency as a direct result of the severity of damage, significant power outages throughout the community and delays in power restoration,” Mayor Tara Veer said Wednesday morning.

“Our crews are still working hard to make their way around Red Deer and clean up areas that were impacted by last night’s storm.”

Red Deer city manager Craig Curtis said the high winds started at about 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“The major wind burst occurred just before 7 p.m. last night, the winds came up very quickly, they didn’t last all that long but they actually reached a speed of nearly 112 kilometres per hour,” Curtis said.

“They certainly did a lot of damage in the swath across the city from the south east to north west and areas in between,” Curtis continued.

While the storm appeared to have wreaked havoc on property, officials said they were only made aware of one injury, at the city’s Lions Campground.

There, dozens of trees were downed by the storm, at least one struck Lee Watson’s motorhome.

“I was just outside doing some barbecuing,” Watson said. “[I] went inside for a few moments, temperature dropped about 15 degrees, sky got dark, trees started falling from all areas of the motorhome.”

On Wednesday morning, officials said crews had restored power for many of the residents who lost it during the storm, but there were still some areas without power – and it could take nearly a day to restore power to the Vanier East area.

Later Wednesday, officials said work to restore power and clean up after the storm had been held back due to the severity of damage in some areas.

“If you are still without power we unfortunately still have a long road ahead of us,” Veer said Wednesday evening.

“We hope to have power back to all homes in Red Deer as soon as possible, but if you are still without power we have to prepare for another 72 hours without power.”

Residents without power were urged to “shelter in place”, or to seek help from neighbours and friends who had power.

“If you have personal extenuating circumstances and need assistance we encourage you to please call 211 for further information or call our emergency social services line, and the emergency call centre at 403-342-8111 to seek assistance where necessary,” Veer said.

Officials urged residents to keep tabs on the situation through the city’s website and social media channels, and to only call 911 in an emergency – residents dealing with power outages, or other non-emergency issues are asked to call the city’s emergency call centre.

Veer said the local state of emergency would stay in place for a week, unless the city terminates it.

With files from Taylor Oseen