Tornado cleanup begins in southern Manitoba

Investigators were still working on Monday to assess the path of destruction left by tornadoes in southern Manitoba over the weekend.

Tornadoes hit the southern part of the province on Saturday, damaging more than a thousand cottages and sending three people to hospital.

"We haven't completed our damage survey of this one yet and so far we've found F-3 damage. It's a very significant tornado certainly," Dave Carlsen, warning preparedness meteorologist, told CTV's Canada AM.

An F-3 tornado is categorized as a severe tornado with wind speeds between 253 and 330 kilometres per hour.

This followed an F-4 tornado that ripped through parts of Eli, Man. on Friday evening and flattened several homes and a flour mill.

Environment Canada is looking into reports that more tornadoes swept through southern Manitoba, a day after fierce twisters caused heavy damage in the town of Elie, west of Winnipeg.

Twisters were spotted Saturday evening near Pipestone, Minto, the Canupawakpa First Nation and an area between Hartney and Deloraine.

A tornado that obliterated at least four homes in a small Manitoba town has been classified as an F4 -- one of the most violent twisters possible.

Environment Canada meteorologists believe the twister that hit Elie, a community west of Winnipeg, had wind speeds of up to 417 kilometres per hour.

On Saturday, a day after the tornado struck, the town's residents were amazed that no one was killed or injured.

One woman is dead, dozens more people are injured and there are fears that some boaters may have been wrecked on Lac du Bonnet after a tornado tore through southern Manitoba on Saturday afternoon.

On its way, it destroyed cottages and barns and cut a deep gash through the thick bush east of Lake Winnipeg.

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer toured the town of Elie west of Winnipeg Saturday where a tornado hit hard the night before.

The tornado destroyed at least four homes and damaged several others, but there were no reports of injuries.

It also tossed several trucks into fields and caused a semi to roll into the ditch on the Trans-Canada Highway.

Environment Canada says it received three reports of twisters Friday night — the one in Elie, one west of Portage la Prairie and a another in the Carman area.