March 30, 1998 - MPR’s Mark Steil reports on the tornado that went through Comfrey, Minnesota. Local residents share their experiences during the twister, which damaged the economic heart of the town and caused more misery for farmers already facing challenging times.
March 31, 1998 - Midday presents a special report on the tornadoes that went through southern Minnesota and destroyed large parts of St. Peter and Comfrey. MPR reporters give updates on aftermath, followed by various interviews and accounts from listeners.
March 31, 1998 - MPR’s Bill Catlin traces path of the storm that devastated farms and towns in southern Minnesota. Reports includes firsthand accounts of the storm and tornadoes.
March 31, 1998 - MPR’s Eicthen takes a listener call who describes a harrowing in-person experience of the tornado that struck the town of Comfrey, Minnesota.
March 31, 1998 - MPR’s Perry Finelli interviews Greg Aune, choral director at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, as he describes the scene after tornado hit the town. Like other parts of town, Gustavus Adolphus College was severely damaged, including the chapel...which lost its 137-foot spire. Aune says the campus has been transformed.
April 2, 1998 - MPR’s Cara Hetland reports that the tornadoes in Comfrey and St. Peter has brought memories back for the residents of Chandler in southwest Minnesota. A tornado in 1992 wiped out nearly all of the town. They have rebuilt their town and gone one with their lives but the memories and emotions are still strong.
April 3, 1998 - The National Weather service issued a preliminary report indicating extraordinarily wide and long-running tornados were responsible for the damage in Comfrey, Le Center, and St. Peter on March 29, 1998. The review identified a total of seven seperate tornadoes which hit Brown, Nicollet, Le Sueur, Rice, and Dakota counties. Two, or possibly three, of the tornadoes were especially destructive "multiple vortex" tornadoes.
April 6, 1998 - Grand Forks mayor Pat Owens speaking to St. Peter residents at First Lutheran Church. Owens empathizes with St. Peter’s tornado disaster by reflecting on the devastating flooding that impacted Grand Forks the prior year. Program then turns to Vincent Harding speech on Martin Luther King, presented as part of coverage on 30th anniversary of King’s assassination, and his legacy.
April 7, 1998 - MPR's Mary Losure talked to kids at an afterschool daycare program for a child's eye view of the severe storm and tornado that hit St. Peter, Minnesota.
April 9, 1998 - Tom Gravelin, a cafe owner in St. Peter, shares his experience during and after a tornado hit the Minnesota town.