Viewer Sara Tkachyk took this picture of the Elie Tornado from her farm, five miles north of Culross, Manitoba.
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WINNIPEG -- It was so strong it sandblasted the bark off trees and tossed homes around as if they were toys.
The tornado that struck the tiny community of Elie, Man., this summer was deemed Tuesday to be the most powerful in Canadian history.
Environment Canada, after reviewing amateur videotape of the twister, determined the tornado packed winds of more than 400 km/h -- strong enough to qualify as Canada's first-ever F-5 tornado on the international Fujita scale.
The tornado touched down on June 22, cutting a swath 300 metres wide and 5.5 km long through the town just west of Winnipeg.
Amazingly, no one was seriously injured or killed, despite the fact that the tornado carried much stronger winds than the F-4 twister that roared through Edmonton in 1987 that claimed 27 lives.
