Tiny Comfrey makes comeback after struck by 1998 tornado super cell

March 29--COMFREY -- Vernon Pederson remembers where he was 20 years ago today. He was heading home from rural Comfrey when "all of a sudden, things didn't look so good."

"We were driving toward the Catholic Church when we saw evergreens falling down."

He arrived on his street minutes later, just in time to see his garage carried away by an F4 tornado.

On March 29, 1998, a massive twister cut a mile-wide path through the small community of then about 450 people near the Brown County/Cottonwood County line. It's the same cell that wiped out much of St. Peter, which is marking the 20th twister anniversary with a community gathering at 5:15 p.m. today.

The wide-scale devastation was the result of the greatest March tornado outbreak in Minnesota history, according to the National Weather Service. Fourteen tornadoes touched down that day, including 13 from a super cell that tracked from the southwest corner of the state to just a few miles from the Minnesota/Wisconsin border. Two lives were claimed by the terrible storm in which winds ramped up to more than 175 mph.

Eighteen people from Comfrey were treated for injuries suffered in the storm.

"We didn't lose anybody in town, but a man from a farm outside of town was hurt really bad," Pederson said.

The plight of the displaced was increased when an anhydrous ammonia line broke in a toppled grain elevator, causing the town to be evacuated.

Pederson, 76, said he and his wife stayed with their son on the family farm for a couple of nights.

Comfrey residents had to wait a few days before they could re-enter their town. Then, authorities allowed many of them only short periods of time to retrieve personal items from their properties because most of their homes had been destroyed.

The Pedersons' home on White Street was relatively undamaged, so they were able to stay.

"We didn't have electricity for a while. The lift station outside of town -- the tornado cleaned that right off (the ground)."

Pederson brought in one of the farm's generators that he used to save a freezer full of food.

Not only were houses destroyed, the school was in the path of the twister that also took aim at main street structures. Comfrey's combination fire hall/city offices and police station were left in ruins.

Communications and electrical power were reduced to cellphones and generators.

The group of tornadoes that struck Comfrey and neighboring farms at 4:22 p.m. March 29, 1998, was described by Mark Seeley, now retired University of Minnesota climatologist, as having no equivalent in Minnesota history.

Storm trackers monitored the super cell's departure from Brown County and the path cut through Nicollet and Le Sueur counties before losing strength.

Soon after Comfrey streets reopened and cleared of debris, scores of volunteers and relief workers came to help out with recovery efforts.

Two decades later, the town's structures show relatively few scars from being leveled by the storm. The rebuilt fire hall and repaired school have served the community for years.

Dave Schiller, a retired insurance agent from Comfrey, is a longtime weather spotter. When the tornado struck, he was in the fire station, monitoring calls from volunteers posted southwest of town.

When the ominously dark wall of bad weather seemed ready to drop from the sky, Schiller headed for cover.

"I blew the siren, then hightailed it under the big tanker."

After the storm passed, he left the safe haven he'd found beneath the truck used to haul water to fires and rushed outside to discover his nearby home in ruins.

"I ran there to see if my wife and 3-month-old grandkid were OK."

They had escaped injury.

Six months went by before repairs to the Schillers' residence were complete. "We moved back in Halloween weekend," he said.

Since 1998 about 20 new homes have been built throughout town.

An estimated 373 people were living in Comfrey in 2016, according to the Census Bureau.

"Our population is pretty steady. We still have a gas station and our Bar and Grill," said Tammy Kelly, the town's clerk-treasurer.

"Our grocery store will be re-opening soon, sometime in April," Kelly said, explaining there had been a brief hiatus between store owners.

A longtime school employee and Comfrey resident, Kris Evers was in Windom with her infant daughter when the 1998 tornado hit Comfrey. During the past 20 years, Evers, who is business manager for Comfrey Public Schools, had a front-row view of the progress at her workplace.

"Since then, we've attached a day care to the building and we have a joint city/school library (at the site)," said Evers, who also serves as director for the day care. "We have 14 kids in day care and 146 in K-12 classes."

Neil Roiger, of Springfield, was 11 years old when the tornado struck Comfrey's grain elevator and caused the anhydrous ammonia leak. He is now location manager for the town's new elevator, Farmward.

"The grain bins have been moved a short distance to a more convenient location," Roiger said.

Remnants of a few old buildings may still be seen at the site, he said.

Although townsfolk did not organize a 20-year observance of the disastrous storm, recovery efforts likely will be celebrated during Comfrey Community Days July 12-15.

___

(c)2018 The Free Press (Mankato, Minn.)

Visit The Free Press (Mankato, Minn.) at www.mankatofreepress.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.