A tornado roared through Grove City and Atwater Friday evening, with strong winds destroying a shed and camper, uprooting trees, and damaging vehicles and other items exposed to weather elements.
Initial reports didn’t label the storm as a tornado, but on Saturday afternoon the National Weather Service confirmed that a twister was the source of significant damage to some properties.
Some of the worst damage in this area hit the residence of Todd Clark and Goldie Smith, who live east of Grove City along U.S. Highway 12, just outside of the city limits.
The couple was eating supper when severe weather alerts chimed on their cell phones. Their peaceful meal soon turned chaotic.
While Smith made her way to the basement, Clark made sure the windows on the house were closed and glanced at the darkening sky, filled with towering vertical clouds. Before he could process what was happening, a strong line of wind had ripped through their property.
Outside they discovered unforeseen destruction — a mess that could take weeks, even months, to clean up. Their 24-by-52-foot sheet metal-sided storage shed, which Clark said was “completely full,” was knocked to the ground, with glass and debris flying everywhere.
“It happened really fast,” Clark said. “Like a three-minute deal … Next thing you know, (the shed) was down.”
The storm didn’t produce a lot of noise in its short wake of destruction, but Clark said they noticed the wind picking up from the south at the rear of their property. “By then, it was done,” he said.
Their camper, parked in the yard, was totaled. A pickup truck and trailer loaded with sand were damaged when the wind turned them sideways, then back on their wheels.
“There’s nothing left of it — whole front of it’s gone,” Clark said of the camper.
Two trees were leaning against the back side of the house, and a spruce tree in their neighbor’s yard was uprooted. Fortunately, the house was not damaged.
Other local damage included downed trees and a flipped boat and trampoline. Reports on Facebook said the roofs of turkey barns were damaged near Atwater, about five miles west of Grove City.
Storm chaser Michael Marz reported on Twitter that he was on the west side of Grove City went the storm hit and the couplet on his weather radar began to tighten up, signaling a strong rotation within the thunderstorm that could produce a tornado.
His Twitter video, which can be found at pic.twitter.com/bKV3yTvb1l, captured swirling clouds and strong winds. “Interesting to see the tree branches go upwards,” he tweeted.
“Haha almost out of nowhere,” Marz tweeted with a winking emoji. “There’s a reason why I went out to chase today. Gotta love warm fronts!”
THE AFTERMATH
It’s hardly the calm after the storm for Clark and Smith, who are left with loads of debris to remove from their property and the massive task of finding storage for the contents of the ravaged building.
“Got a shed full and no place to put it,” Clark said.
The building collapse is particularly hard on Clark and Smith because they’ve only owned the property since December. Clark said they’d been sprucing up the property and had received several compliments on its improved condition.
To make matters worse, Clark said insurance claims won’t cover the full cost of rebuilding the shed and restoring the property to its former state.
Despite the work and expenses ahead, Clark and Smith are thankful no one was hurt in the storm and grateful for friends, family and neighbors who’ve offered to help with the cleanup. And they’re accepting that there was no way to prepare for nor prevent its outcome.
“You can’t argue with Mother Nature,” Clark said. “She’ll do what she wants.”
STRONG WINDS STRIKE LITCHFIELD, EDEN VALLEY, WATKINS
A rumbling storm that began with heavy rains and gusty winds swept through the Litchfield area between 6:15 and 7 p.m. Friday, sounding warning sirens and disrupting events at the Meeker County Fair.
Litchfield was in a tornado warning until 7 p.m., but the National Weather Service attributed the strong gusts in town to straight-line winds. While the cell that passed through west-central Minnesota had a radar-indicated tornado warning associated with it, there were no reported funnel cloud touchdowns in Litchfield.
Some residences in the Eden Valley-Watkins area experienced a power outage, as well as downed power lines and trees.
A caller told the Independent Review that winds knocked down a pole in the parking lot of the Muddy Cow bar and restaurant in Litchfield, damaging some vehicles.
by Ellarry Prentice (2018, Aug 4/Updated 2018, Aug 7) Independent Review
