Strong wind gusts at Alberta Beach shoved masses of ice to pile up against homes on the shoreline Saturday night.
Residents from over a dozen homes situated on Lac Saint Anne lived anxious moments as strong winds piled up as much as 10 feet of ice into their backyards in minutes.
“Bev was napping and I go, ‘Bev, wake up, the ice is coming,” Heather Bell said. “And sure enough, it was crawling, crawling, crawling – and fast. Within five minutes you get a lot of ice up here.”
This is Bev and Heather's back yard at Lac St. Anne - They say it piled up in 5 minutes last night. #AB #abweather pic.twitter.com/eHeiG4QGKj
— Jeremy Thompson (@JThompsonCTV) May 7, 2017
Thankfully, it was just a quick scare by nature and no damage has been reported.
“On all these properties that I’ve been walking around, it pretty much stops after the retaining wall,” Bell said.
The owner had a bobcat in to remove ice pressure from windows - It was up to the roof #AB #yegwx #yeg pic.twitter.com/m5U3isrdHM
— Jeremy Thompson (@JThompsonCTV) May 7, 2017
But owners in the area know it could be much worse. In 2013, ice swept through a boathouse and it cost the property owners thousands of dollars in damage.
Every spring, residents are in fear wind gusts will pick up before the ice melts, and there isn’t much they can do other than wait and hope.
Still plenty of ice left on #LacSteAnne One #AlbertaBeach resident says it doesn't take much wind to get it moving #yeg #AB pic.twitter.com/r1NFORwBM9
— Jeremy Thompson (@JThompsonCTV) May 7, 2017
“Everybody is nervous this time of year cause you just don’t know,” Jason Hamilton said.
With files from Jeremy Thompson
