A Dakota Tipi First Nation resident was an eye-witness of lightning strikes around 9 last night at the Ebb and Flow Pow wow.

Reports say as many as 16 people were struck, while about 40 experienced small shocks. 4 to 6 people were reported taken to hospital, but no details are available.

Clinton Pashe was running a concession booth, and says it didn't appear bad at first, so the pow wow continued.

"And all of a sudden the wind started picking up fast, and gusting," he says. "And everything started flying everywhere. People were starting to run all over, and there were flashes of lightning, and thundering was coming quick. My cousins and my uncles were holding down the canopy also in our booth. And there was a bright, big flash that hit the sky."

Pashe says there was lightning everywhere.

"I looked at my cousin, and we ran out of the canopy, and went to the truck right away," he says. "And we realized that my cousins and uncles were struck by lightning, and their hands and their feet were all numb. So we just got out of the area, evacuated quick. And then when we were a little way off the highway, we saw ambulances coming toward Ebb and Flow."

Pashe talks about what he felt as it happened.

"If everyone else was okay," he says. "I just felt devastated, and kind of in shock, for me to experience something like that, the first of its kind in my whole entire life."

The pow wow's scheduled to continue today.

Silver Houle as the storm rages

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