Jul 12, 2008 7:57 pm US/Central
Authorities: No Help Needed In Willmar
WILLMAR, Minn. (AP) ―
Cleanup got under way on Saturday in the Willmar area, one day after a tornado packing winds estimated as high as 150 mph destroyed three homes.
The National Weather Service said the tornado first touched down just north of the small town of Priam, where it hit a turkey barn. It continued to move southeast and crossed about five miles south of downtown Willmar.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Todd Krause said the tornado was a low-end EF-3, which generally have winds in the 136 to 150 mph range. He said Minnesota usually gets one or two such tornadoes a year.
The tornado touched down at Arnold's Equipment, a farm equipment dealer along Highway 71, around 6:30 p.m. on Friday night.
After surveying the affected area on Saturday, the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office said the twister destroyed three homes and damaged eight others. It also damaged two businesses -- Arnold's and Kandi Trailer Sales -- and three turkey barns. Sgt. Matt Akerson said no outside clean-up help was needed.
Two people received minor injuries, but the damage was far less severe than a tornado in late May that leveled the town of Hugo, a northeast suburb of the Twin Cities. A 2-year-old child was killed and his sister suffered a serious brain injury in that storm that destroyed 50 homes and damaged more than 300 in the town.
That doesn't mean the Willmar tornado was any easier to sit through for those who were caught in the middle of it.
Ken and Joyce Randt huddled in a fruit cellar with five of their grandchildren as the twister ripped their home above them to shreds, leaving only a rock fireplace and stairway from the home in which the Randts have lived for 50 years.
"Everything goes so fast," Joyce Randt told the West Central Tribune of Willmar.
Family and friends were helping them gather what few personal belongings were left when emergency crews evacuated everyone from the area to tend to gas leaks.
Vickie Sletta also lost her family's home to the storm, just a few years after a fire destroyed the original farmhouse on the property.
The misfortune extended to more than 6,000 turkeys, who even 30 minutes after the tornado hit, sat in the rectangular formation of the barn that had been sucked away. Most appeared unharmed.
Ross Orsten, of Orsten Turkey Inc., said he didn't know what he was going to do with the homeless turkeys.
The Sheriff's Department in Mahnomen County in northwestern Minnesota also reported that a tornado on Friday had damaged homes and outbuildings, and downed trees. No one was hurt.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
