MPR’s Tim Nelson reports on the damage, death, and havoc left behind after tornadoes struck areas of southern Minnesota. The severe weather knocked out power and devastated a handful of farms near Albert Lea. For some, their livelihoods were all but wiped out by the storm.
On June 17, 2010, the largest tornado outbreak on record in Minnesota produced 48 confirmed tornadoes in the state. The tornadoes produced heavy damage in northwestern, central, and far southern Minnesota, with three of them rated as EF4 (considered “devasting” on Enhanced Fujita scale). Three people died from the tornado outbreak.
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TIM NELSON: For Doug Steele's pigs, the storm blew their house down yesterday. But the hogs were reluctant to even leave the wreckage this morning as Steele's neighbors herded them out of what was left of the barn on the south side of his farm. But though they must, Steele said, as he surveyed what was left of his 3,200 head hog farm.
DOUG STEELE: It's wean to finish. And then it's like soybean and corn grain farm. And I guess it's pretty well gone, I think. I guess get the pigs out of here. I can clean off the top and build new barns. That's not an issue. Grain bins? We'll see what happens from there.
TIM NELSON: Not to mention his house. A six-by-six beam from one of his barns speared through one wall. The roof is dimpled with holes and the windows are blown out. But Steele, his wife Stacy, and their three young boys all survived without a scratch. Their farmstead was directly in the path of the storms that swept across South Central Minnesota, stretching from the Iowa border to north of Interstate 90.
The storm started along the state line, in Faribault County, and hit the small town of Keister first. Faribault County Sheriff Mike Gormley followed it in his squad car, and even had time to videotape the funnel on his phone as it headed for town.
MIKE GORMLEY: We had a house that had the roof taken off south of town. And all the contents were fine inside the house, but the garage was destroyed and a lot of the outbuildings. We've got a lot of tree damage in town here with some structure damage. Not a whole lot. No injuries, thank goodness, but a lot of trees. And that's where the cleanup efforts are at today.
TIM NELSON: People in neighboring Freeborn County weren't so lucky as the storms progressed. County officials said 15 people were injured, one of them fatally, as twisters skipped across the open farmland between Albert Lea and Blue Earth about dinner time. Freeborn County Sheriff Mark Harig says a couple living just outside Albert Lea on the north side of Interstate 90 were the most seriously hurt.
MARK HARIG: I know we had a mobile home that was blown away. It just disintegrated. And I believe the lady living at the residence is deceased and her husband is transferred to Rochester. I'm not sure if he's in critical condition. It was very serious last night.
TIM NELSON: Authorities have identified the woman as 66-year-old Kathy Woodside. They said four of the other injured were also taken to Rochester and three were hospitalized in Albert Lea. Besides the human toll, officials tallied up the structural damage as the sun rose this morning. Freeborn County Administrator John Kluever says the first count of damaged buildings put the number over 60, and many of them were total losses.
JOHN KLUEVER: If you know Freeborn County at all, it went through the rural areas of the county, therefore, farms and small acreage homesteads, barns, sheds, those type of structures were in the way of the tornado, several hog confinements. So we have animal issues out there, a couple of feedlots. So that compounds it.
TIM NELSON: One of those hog farms belonged to Beth Zeller and her husband, Jeff. They were both in Des Moines yesterday afternoon-- Beth visiting her grandson and Jeff driving a delivery truck. Neighbors called and told them their farm had been badly damaged.
BETH ZELLER: We're missing a great big machine shed and two cattle sheds, and a large pig confinement building. And there's a steel Quonset, three grain bins that are ruined. The dryer is gone. Our house was damaged and lots of trees. And most of our machinery is gone. We found one tractor that looks to be OK, and that's pretty much it.
TIM NELSON: Beth Zeller said it was heartening to come home and find friends and family, even strangers at her farm, trying to herd up her cattle and patch up the roof of her house. But even that may be for naught. Her home may be damaged beyond repair.
BETH ZELLER: My husband and I looked at each other and it's like, where do we start? And look at this. This is our livelihood. And where do we start? But we're both just really thankful we weren't home. We didn't get hurt. And in the long run, that's all that matters.
TIM NELSON: Officials in the area say it may be days before they tally up the total damage and get power restored and roads cleared from the tornado's path. Tim Nelson, Minnesota Public Radio News, Albert Lea.