Rain and thunderstorms swept through the Pembina Valley last night, bringing violent hail to some communities as well which broke windows.

Residents of Manitou were especially hit hard, and could be seen raking their yards this morning, clearing the leaf litter. The storm had caught many off-guard, some experiencing the storm as they were preparing for bed.

"I went to bed at around 9:30 and all of a sudden I heard a bang, bang, bang and I got up and said Buddy what in the world is going on?" shared resident Thelma Vaudry. 

Her daughter Buddy Drake had been visiting from Alberta and rushed outside to see the what was happening. She said the ornaments in the garden had been damaged and leaves had been stripped from the trees due to the golf ball sized hail.

Lois Crieth said her yard almost looked like a different world with all the damage and leaves. "Because of the leaves, the branches, and pieces of white eavestrough are on the lawn."

She said with all that had happened people around town had been quite busy. "Everyone needs a job so the insurance reps will be busy today."

Meantime, a spokesperson with Manitoba Hydro says crews are making steady progress in restoring service to about 1,900 customers following the storm Thursday evening.

As of 2:30 p.m. on Friday, only 49 customers were still without service in the Killarney area compared to 1,600 in the morning and 23 customers in Portage la Prairie remained in the dark compared to the 300 this morning.

Damage from the storm includes trees on power lines, downed power lines, broken poles and damaged transformers and other equipment.