A deadly tornado touched down in Central Minnesota late Wednesday, leaving one person dead, at least two others injured and a handful of damaged farmsteads.
The storm hit the Dalton area in southeastern Otter Tail County around 5:10 and 5:30 p.m., according to The Weather Channel. Although it mostly traveled through open farmland, three farmsteads have reported extensive damages so far, the website continued.
One farmhouse was completely flattened, CBS Minnesota disclosed, while other damages included downed power lines, destroyed roofs and even a car tossed into the basement of a home, KVRR.com added.
This was my closest intercept ever and I did it 6 times today… #mnwx @ReedTimmerAccu @spann @JYuhasKSTP @JimCantore @TWCBreaking @ian_leonard @ialto86 @chrisplys
The Otter Tail County Facebook page confirmed that at least one person has died and two others have been taken to the hospital for their injuries.
According to The Weather Channel, the department disclosed that the one person was killed at the first farm hit, while the injured came from the second.
“I saw it come down, and right away, you could see the debris rising up,” Ashby Mayor Tom Grover told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
CBS Minnesota posted raw footage of the tornado on Facebook.
You can watch the harrowing clip, which was submitted by North Dakota resident Alissa Wilbur, below:
Alissa Wilbur Captured the Footage on Her Way to School
Alissa and Paige Fode where driving from the Twin Cities to school in Grand Forks, North Dakota when they documented the tornado, CBS Minnesota reported. The cell phone footage captures the powerful storm tearing through a farm along Interstate 94 in Ashby, the station explained.
The girls received a storm warning alert early in the evening when they entered Ashby, Wilbur told CBS Minnesota — but they did not think they would see a tornado.
“It was definitely an experience, very scary,” Wilbur said to the station. “It kind of got in front of us a little bit. Thankfully it veered to the right and went into those fields.”
The North Dakota resident added that the tornado spun on the ground for “probably 20 minutes that we could see.”
“We didn’t see any damage, but once we got to the part of the interstate that it did cross, you could tell because there was water everywhere,” Wilbur said to CBS Minnesota. “It had picked up water from some lake or something,” said Fode.
Another Minnesota Tornado Hit Wednesday in Crow Wing County
The National Weather Service in Grand Forks told the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office late Wednesday that two tornadoes touched down in the area around the same time, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported.
The Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to CBS Minnesota that it saw the tornado, but no injuries have been reported so far.
Deputies are continuing to assess the damage, the station added.
The storms came at a time of statewide high heat and humidity, the Star-Tribune continued.
“An excessive heat warning covered the metro area for much of the day as the combination of heat and humidity made it feel like it was over 100 degrees,” the newspaper wrote.
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