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On July 31, 1987, Joan Rossall was summoned to Edmonton City Hall to speak in front of reporters.

She was tasked with reading out the numbers from the Black Friday tornado: 25 killed with two more who would later succumb to their injuries, plus scores more injured in one of the worst natural disasters in Canada’s history, a storm that flattened parts of the city and left destruction in its path 32 years ago Wednesday.

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“I found it very emotional to hear those numbers,” recalled Rossall, then the chairman of the newly formed Edmonton Ambulance Authority.

Rossall was called in to work that day to help with response efforts, a task made difficult by a lack of resources — they only had two or three paramedics working, she said.

From a war room, Rossall worked the phones and co-ordinated volunteers, including doctors, who wanted to help victims of the storm. She dispatched responders and kept track of the damages.