UTICA, Minn. — Jim Pelowski is used to life on the breezy side at his 120-acre hilltop farm.
But a gusting wind storm Monday that brought thunder, lightening and a concentrated blast of up to 1¼ inches of rain caught the 71-year-old and his wife Shirley by surprise.
The metal roof on Pelowski’s tractor shed ripped off and landed in pieces 400 feet away in the front of his yard. Roof debris smashed and knocked over Pelowski’s more than 50-foot steel windmill down to the ground. One long wooden board from the roof lodged two feet into the ground like an arrow.
The windows were blown out in an adjacent grain barn. Several elm trees surrounding Pelowski’s property snapped and littered his lawn. Shirley’s clothesline was a goner. Four tractors inside the shed and a blue 1960 Ford truck were scuffed up a bit in the roof fracas. The waist-high, wind-blown corn looked like slicked back hair on a Jolly Green Giant.
The Pelowskis returned from shopping in Rochester, Minn., around 5 p.m. Monday, and couldn’t believe the mess.
“We were thankful we weren’t here, but it sure was a surprise when we pulled into the drive,” Pelowski said.
It was a blessing the house escaped with minor damage to the siding and TV tower, he said. Their insurance assessed the damage at $50,000.
Northeastern straight-lined winds ran across the Iowa-Minnesota border around 3:30 p.m., came into La Crosse, Wis., and tailed off in central and southwest Wisconsin, National Weather Service hydro-meteorologist Tom Strangeland said.
The NWS clocked 70 mph winds, he said, but a Grand Meadow, Minn., wind farm reported 105 mph winds at 300 feet and the La Crosse Airport reported 35 mph winds.
The worst of the damage was in the south side of La Crosse, but there were sporadic pockets of damage throughout the storm’s path that brought thunder, lightning and pea-sized hail. Concentrated rainfall rates flooded streets and brought down power lines and trees along the way, Strangeland said.
“When these storms came in they were very turbulent,” he said. “I could see why some people thought there was a tornado here. There was a lot of swirling going on.”
Contact Amber Dulek at (507) 453-3513 or amber.dulek@lee.net.
No comments:
Post a Comment