Region picks up the pieces after strong storm

Sept. 21--WATERVILLE -- Dave DeMars couldn't see the tornado coming toward him.

DeMars heard the sirens go off Thursday night and checked the sky. He watched as some of the clouds swirled, but he couldn't hear the tell-tale roaring sound people associated with tornadoes.

Still, he went downstairs in his Waterville home with his dog, Lucy, to wait out the storm underneath a staircase.

That's when the windows blew open.

"I just felt this huge wind tunnel go through our house," DeMars said. "Our basement window blew open, another window blew out and everything just started swirling about."

DeMars was lucky. Aside from a few busted windows, some toppled trees and a little roof damage, his house was intact. The same couldn't be said for some of his neighbors in the northern part of Waterville, where one of four reported tornadoes blew through between 5:30 and 7 p.m.

The winds uprooted or snapped off trees, warped sheds, even stripped the roofs off of some buildings. While some property owners only had a few downed trees, others will have to consult insurance companies and find other places to stay as their damage is assessed.

Damage to Waterville's power grid was so severe that the city instituted a nighttime curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. in the interest of "safety and security."

"This could be days without power. Xcel has told us that the infrastructure has been severely damaged," city officials posted on Waterville's Facebook page Friday afternoon. "They are working around the clock and recruiting crews from all over to assist. However, many of their contract crews have been dispatched to the Carolinas for the Hurricane Florence recovery. We ask that you remain clear of all downed power lines."

The National Weather Service confirmed Friday afternoon that three tornadoes struck parts of south-central Minnesota based on storm damage surveyed near Granada, Morristown and Faribault. NWS meteorologists were still calculating the storm's strength.

The storm went through the region fast, moving through a town in fewer than 20 minutes. NWS meteorologists say most areas received about an inch of rain -- Waseca and Morristown each got between .8 to an inch of rain, while Mankato got 1.5 inches of rainfall and nearby Skyline received about 1.7 inches.

Area emergency management personnel had cleared out or deactivated downed power lines in Waseca and Le Sueur counties by early Friday morning, which allowed DeMars and several thousand people to start clearing out brush, downed trees and other debris.

Linda Pommeranz and her mother, Marlys Meskan, were thankful no one seemed to be injured from the tornado in Waterville. They, along with family and friends, helped Meskan clear out debris from her decades-old property.

Meskan could remember when the neighborhood north of Cannon Gate Park only had one or two trees when she and her family built their house about 50 years ago. Many trees had sprouted in the area since then, only to be snapped, torn and battered by Thursday's storm.

"Now it looks sort of like it does when we first moved in," Meskan said.

Waterville-Elysian-Morristown High School custodian Andrew Novack recorded video of a weak funnel cloud or tornado near the school. A volleyball game was underway in the gym when the storm struck he said. He was assisting with the evacuation to a shelter area when he spotted the twister.

"I thought 'cool' and then 'oh sh**,' because it was right next to us," he said.

All classes were canceled Friday in the Waterville-Elysian-Morristown School District. Several trees were toppled outside the high school and bricks were knocked off the building.

The Faribault County town of Easton, about 30 miles south of Mankato, was heavily damaged when the storm hit shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday. That was most symbolized by the toppling of the steeple on the town's most visible building -- the majestic Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church. The 1915 brick church, which had its 133-foot steeple rebuilt a decade ago, was so severely damaged that Masses have been moved to parishes in nearby towns until further notice.

"It's kind of a landmark. The steeple is all lit up at night," said Fairbault County Emergency Management Director Lisa Frommie.

No homes were destroyed in Easton, a city of 194, but power was knocked out for about six hours and many streets were blocked by fallen trees, Frommie said.

Elsewhere in the county, Delavan was completely without power for a shorter period Thursday night and the Riverside Town and Country Club -- a golf course north of Blue Earth -- was hard hit.

"They have a lot of damage out there," she said. "Trees just fell like dominoes."

Frommie said she and other county officials are tallying up the estimated damage in case it meets the threshold for federal disaster aid: "It's still too early to tell right now."

Waterville's Kamp Dels was closed off as workers tried to clear debris from the campground. Municipal workers were busy trying to restore power to city residents while county workers helped burn brush that had fallen in tree-covered areas.

Sakatah Lake State Park is closed this weekend as crews work to restore power and water service to the park.

Dean Roemhildt wasn't home during the storm, but he found himself trying to clear out almost all of the trees in his yard near the high school Friday morning.

"It's the first time it's been this bad," he said.

Despite the damage, residents were more than willing to help one another out. Pommeranz noted more and more people showed up throughout Friday morning to help clear brush and bring a chainsaw or two to cut up fallen trees.

"I could not believe how many people have come to help out," she said.

Jeff and Lanette Ayers only had a few fallen trees in their yard, but they still received help pulling trees to the curb from some local high school students. The Ayerses finished cleaning up their property's damage by 11:30 a.m. and planned to help some of their neighbors that afternoon.

Not everyone was so lucky. Sheila Appel and three of her four daughters were at their home near Lake Elysian Thursday night when the sirens rang out. Appel brought her children to the basement and had just finished making dinner when she heard the tornado warning.

"I ran upstairs quick to try and grab the dogs, looked out the window and ran back down," she said. "It was here, probably five minutes from when the warning came out."

From the basement, Appel heard the house "explode" as she put it. The Appels' garage roof was torn off and some of the walls buckled, and there's structural damage on the western side of the house. Appel and her husband, Jesse, are concerned the house may have shifted off its foundations. They were back at the house Friday morning assessing some of the damage and cleaning up.

No one was hurt -- the family's dogs are OK, and it appears their outdoor cats are safe, albeit shaken and refusing to come out of the nearby treeline. Still, much of the property is in disarray -- a swing set they own was blown about 150 yards away into a makeshift pond caused by the storm.

"We're all safe," Sheila Appel said. "We can replace what we need to replace."

The cities of Elysian and Waseca are providing free brush pickup for residents. Brush and small branches should be placed along the curb. Collection will be ongoing in Elysian and Waseca residents must have their brush out by Tuesday for collection Tuesday or Wednesday.

Waterville residents can bring their trees and branches to South Reed Street across from the city and county buildings.

In Mankato, there were downed trees and power lines but no significant damage to buildings.

"We did have some storm damage but it wasn't real bad. It could have been a lot worse," said Director of Public Safety Todd Miller.

A fallen tree struck a vehicle near the hospital and trees and power lines forced the closure of Thompson Ravine Road for an extended period, he said.

Fallen power lines caused electrical system damage to two houses, said Fire Cmdr. Don Lehne. Electric current was still running through a home at Ridgely Road and Haynes Street and firefighters had to wait for Xcel Energy crews to turn off the power.

Blue Earth County in general was spared the worst of the storm, said County Emergency Management Director Mike Maurer.

"We were pretty fortunate compared to a lot of them," said Maurer, who spent much of Friday assisting neighboring Martin County officials in the hard-hit town of Granada, about nine miles south of the Blue Earth County line. "We had mostly just trees and power lines. ... Blue Earth County did not have any tornadoes."

Power was still out in Granada, where there were two reports of injuries from flying glass. There were hopes that electricity would be restored sometime Friday night.

Fairmont was dealing with fallen power lines and trees and Ceylon was also heavily damaged, but Granada fared the worst, Martin County Sheriff Jeffrey Markquart said.

"We'll get through it," Markquart said. "... No fatalities, thank God."

As of Friday afternoon Xcel Energy reported about 2,300 Waterville-area residents and 1,900 Morristown-area residents were without power.

Reporters Mark Fischenich and Kristine Goodrich contributed to this story.

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