By SHARI GROSS, PAUL WALSH and ABBY SIMONS, Star Tribune
Last update: June 18, 2010 - 1:40 PM
More from Local + Metro
- Passenger swap spares 2 in Rochester plane crash
- OK, let's talk, hospitals say
- Only in the Sunday Star Tribune
- Plane crash victims were on leisure flight
- 3 killed, dozens injured in Minn. tornadoes
WADENA, MINN. -- Gov. Tim Pawlenty arrived late Friday morning in Wadena, the hardest-hit of several Minnesota communities picking up and sizing up after the previous afternoon and evening's destructive tornadoes killed three people.
The latest fatality confirmed was Kathy Woodside, 66, died when her southern Minnesota mobile home and barn west of Albert Lea were destroyed. Woodside's home had no basement.
Freeborn County's emergency management director, Mark Roche, said his county endured up to nine tornadoes that tore up dozens of farms to varying degrees. Fourteen people were reported injured, with two requiring hospitalization, said County Administrator John Kluever.
Pawlenty has authorized 74 National Guard soldiers to support law enforcement in communities affected by tornadoes, said Guard Lt. Col. Kevin Olson. "Soldiers will assist local authorities by providing security and operating traffic checkpoints in Wadena, Freeborn and Steele counties," Olson said.
The stormy consequences were most unkind to Wadena in northwestern Minnesota. There were 20 people treated at the hospital for mostly minor injuries. Natural gas leaks popped up around the town of about 4,300, the community pool was destroyed and the high school and the community college suffered extensive damage.
At the cemetery, a depiction of Jesus on the cross stood tall amid trees snapped in half.
About 10 blocks of homes took the worst of it. Roofs are gone, school buses and dozens of other vehicles were crushed from falling debris, and mature trees were uprooted.
"We're still dealing with making the town safe," Wadena County Emergency Management Director Scott McKellep said Friday morning, adding that the gas leaks are mostly under control, though plenty of debris remains in the city's streets. Residents are being allowed back to their homes only by permit and with an escort from officials.
"We haven't really started any sort of cleanup; right now, we're just making way for workers and so forth," he said. McKellep said he's confident everyone in town is accounted for. Officials estimate there is damage to 232 of the city's 2,200 homes, ranging from a few shingles ripped off to homes to residences destroyed.
In the city of Wadena, some homes had their sides peeled away, leaving interiors exposed. As often happens, where one house is left destroyed, the neighboring home stands virtually unscathed.
Downed trees are blocking many roads late Friday morning on the southwest side of town. Nails strewn about are punching holes in the tires of emergency vehicles, adding just one more impediment to recovery.
Elsewhere in northwestern Minnesota, an elderly woman was killed when a twister wiped out her home near Almora in Otter Tail County. Killed was Margie Schulke, of Almora.
David Hauser, Otter Tail's county attorney who is acting as the county's spokesman, said Schulke, 79, was found across the road from where her mobile home once stood. He said "it's very possible that she was swept away" by the force of the storm.
Hauser said that "several tornado touchdowns" were spotted in an area 36 miles long and 7 miles wide. Six people were injured and 45 homes damaged, six of them "we would say are destroyed."
Residents and businesses are also coping with power failures in large sections of the county. This also means no water in rural areas because pumps cannot operate. "It maybe a couple, three days before service is restored everywhere," Hauser said.
Southwest of Wadena, Gary Brever owns Ploughshare Farm, a 17-acre community-supported agriculture farm near Parkers Prairie that serves 300 members across the Twin Cities area. His crew was planting Thursday night when golf ball-sized hail pelted the fields.
Now the fields hold badly damaged lettuce, potatoes, broccoli and summer squash, and denuded tomato plants. It'll take two to three weeks, he said, to determine whether the plants will recover. Brever already told members not to expect a delivery next week. "The quality of the produce is just not going to be there," he said.
Farther north, officials say a man was killed when a tornado destroyed his family-owned Cenex gas station in the Polk County community of Mentor. The man, Wes Michaels, is being hailed as a hero because he died protecting his daughter and others from debris at the station where she worked.
Heidi Michaels said her father had owned the gas and convenience store for four years and wasn't supposed to have been working Thursday, his 58th birthday. But he came in to check on her after hearing the storm warnings. When he saw the twister headed for the station, he ordered her and several customers into the cooler just before the store and four vehicles were destroyed.
"He saved me," Heidi Michaels said.
Pawlenty and his emergency management director, Kris Eide, are now getting a first-hand look at the damage. In Wadena, he'll tour the area by ground and from above before speaking to the news media early Friday afternoon. He'll move on to Albert Lea by mid-afternoon.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those lost in the severe storms that swept across our state," the governor said in a statement late Thursday. "Our emergency management officials have been working closely with local officials, and we stand ready to assist in every way needed."
Pawlenty said he is making the trips to "ensure that the response is swift and comprehensive."
In the Twin cities, a joint information center has been established in the state emergency operations center in response to the widespread tornado damage. The center will be using Facebook and Twitter to update the public on cleanup and recovery activities.
State House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, who is a candidate to succeed Pawlenty, said in a statement Friday, "We will bring the full resources of state government to provide immediate relief for victims of this storm, and rebuild the communities that have been destroyed."
Kellier added that she is encouraging "all Minnesotans to do what they can to pitch in, and do the work necessary in the days, weeks, and months ahead to rebuild these communities and help our fellow Minnesotans recover from last night's devastating tragedy."
The Twin Cities metro area was largely spared. Wright County Emergency Management Director Steve Berg reported minor damage to a handful of homes, with a few powerlines and trees downed. One house was struck by lightning, which fractured the gas meter, and a tornado touchdown north of the county's Law Enforcement Center lasted but a few seconds.
"I saw the debris fly, and I was watching the cloud come down, but there just wasn't quite enough energy to keep it going," Berg said. "I think it was the same storm that went from McLeod County right across Wright and into Sherburne, but didn't do a lot of damage. We're lucky."
Staff writers Mary Lynn Smith, Vince Tuss and Tim Harlow contributed to this report.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
RE: "Why is pawlenty interfering in the local governments handling of this private citizen emergency situation? "
Because the Governor has the power to call out the National Guard to help with clean-up, logistics, public safety, etc. A similar situation happend a couple years ago in the town of Rushford in SE MN, which is just 20 miles down the road from where I live. The ENTIRE town flooded with up to 10 ft. of water (though most was about 6 ft.), and the National Guard was dispatched because local EMS, Fire, and Police buildings and vehicles were completely wiped out, along with all utilities, and the county sherriff did not have the staff to manage county duties and emergency services in Rushford all at the same time. The same is most likely true in this case.
Ironic isnt it?
The lunatic left that now bashes Pawlenty because he is a Governor touring a site of a tornado, would be all over him if he didn't. You people are really something else.
A rare Pawlenty sighting
"Gov. Tim Pawlenty is heading to the hardest-hit areas today to blame the tornado on the liberals and promote his self-aggrandizing delusions."
Photo op and also where is Michelle Bachman?
Where is Michelle Bachman? Isn't this her precious district? Oh she is pandering to BP right now. I mean, if she doesn't care aboutthe small people on the gulf, why would she give a darn about her little people.
I hope that T-paw isn't looking for the Government
to help these folks out. Isn't he the one that says that private enterprise can do anything that Government does? Where are the private businesses now? What response do they have?
jimately
I used to live in Ely but now live in Southern Minnesota. I miss the good weather. Seems like half the summer here is spent hiding from severe weather.
Doesn't T-Paw know that he's got an interview on with Fox News at 6 and an interview with the Wall Street journal tomorrow followed by an appearance with Meet the Press on Sunday? Seriously, I'm impressed that he's actually taking the time to deal with a Minnesota issue, or is he going to just get a satellite feed beamed to NY?julio57
my choice to heap critism onto a man (T-Paw) who has shown himself to be the most hypocritical, uncaring person that I have ever met has no bearing on my empathy for those families affected by the tornados. I do feel for each and every person affected by the storms and wish them all the best for their recovery. For the Governer; however, I hold nothing but the same scorn for him that he has neld for working men and women in this state for his entire career as a "so called" public servant.
laurieloo49
Unless Pawlenty shows up with work clothes on and some tools in his hands to help clean up, then it is just another photo op for him to put in his "I'm a caring person" resume.
No comments:
Post a Comment