Tornadoes in Austin, Minnesota and Nebraska leave destruction

by Amy Judd | June 18, 2009 at 10:30 am

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Tornadoes that touched down in Austin, Minnesota and in southern Nebraska yesterday left some destruction in their wake, along with heavy rain, winds, and damage to homes and businesses and leaving thousands without power.

In Austin, Minnesota, vehicles were tossed in the air, homes were damaged and the power was out to most of the city, but only one man was reported to have suffered minor injuries. Austin Mayor Tom Stiehm made a statement:

"It kind of developed on top of us," Stiehm said. "It just kind of — boom, it was just there and the intensity got real bad."

Mike Schuster, who lives in north Austin, told the Austin Daily Herald that he was on his deck when the tornado came out of nowhere, bowing one side of his house, destroying his shed and flattening his trees.

"When we came here there were no trees on this lot," he said of their home, built in 1979. "Now there are no trees again."

In Nebraska, a few tornadoes touched down, one of them hitting a pet products plant, but no injuries were reported there either. A few railcars were knocked off a track and two farms were also damaged.

In other areas, western and central Illinois had a powerful storm, and in central Iowa, a semitrailer was blown off the road and roofs were ripped off houses.
Some of the central states are still battling storms today, and in southern Indiana this morning, 12 empty railcars blew off the tracks near Worthington.
There has been some moderate flooding along the Wild Rice River in North Dakota due to powerful storms, and a flood warning has been issued for the Red River in Fargo, as it is expected to rise by 23.3 feet by this Saturday, which would be 5 feet above the flood stage.