Remembering Black Friday: July 31, 1987
CBC Edmonton | July 25, 2007

The day of Alberta's worst natural disaster started out sunny.

By noon forecasters were predicting severe thunderstorms. The twister was first spotted south of Leduc just before 3 pm. From there it took a northeasterly path, from Beaumont to Mill Woods, over the Sherwood Park Freeway, through an industrial park, skirting Refinery Row, into the neighbourhood of Clareview and finally ripping through the Evergreen Trailer Park in Strathcona County.

The tornado was on the ground for about an hour, leaving a trail of destruction 40 kilometres long and up to a kilometre wide in some places.

Twenty-seven people were killed and more than 300 injured.

More than 300 homes were destroyed and hundreds more were damaged by strong winds and hail.