Storms leave destruction across Minnesota, western Wisconsin

Published: Aug 30, 2024 Duration: 00:04:17 Category: News & Politics

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ALL THAT, OF COURSE, FOR YOU COMING UP IN THE SEVEN DAY FORECAST, TIM. ALL RIGHT. SOUNDS GOOD. MACE. WELL, THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS CONFIRMED TWO TORNADOES NOW IN THE NORTH METRO FROM LAST NIGHT'S STORMS. THIS IS A LOOK AT SOME OF THE DAMAGE IN ISANTI COUNTY FROM SKY FOX, WHERE THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAYS AN EF ONE TWISTER CAME THROUGH. THEY'RE STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT JUST HOW LONG THIS MONSTER WAS ON THE GROUND. NOW, THE WEATHER SERVICE ALSO HAS CREWS ON THE GROUND AND CONFIRMED THAT A TORNADO IN THE ANDOVER AREA TOUCHED DOWN AS WELL. CLEAN UP CREWS WERE AT WORK THERE TODAY. CLEARING THE BROKEN TREES FROM HOMES AND CARS AND POWER LINES TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS NOT YET RATED THIS PARTICULAR TORNADO IN ANDOVER, AND WE'RE ALSO GETTING A BETTER SENSE OF THE DAMAGE DONE AROUND COTTAGE GROVE AND WESTERN WISCONSIN. SKYFOX TODAY FLEW OVER SOME OF THOSE HARDEST HIT AREAS, AND WE SPOTTED A LOT OF SNAPPED TREES AND STRUCTURES THAT HAD THEIR ROOFS TORN OFF. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SURVEY CREWS ARE OUT SURVEYING THE TORNADO REPORTS ACROSS SEVERAL COUNTIES IN WESTERN WISCONSIN, AND WE EXPECT TO GET AN UPDATE ON THEM ALL PRETTY SOON. NOW, OUR ROB OLSON ASSESSED SOME OF THE STORM'S AFTERMATH FROM THE GROUND. TODAY, HE JOINS US LIVE IN COTTAGE GROVE TONIGHT WITH WHAT HE'S SEEING THERE. ROB WELL, TIM, HERE IN COTTAGE GROVE THROUGH MUCH OF THIS TOWN ON THE WESTERN SIDE HERE. THIS IS WHAT YOU SEE EVERYWHERE. JUST TREES DOWN LIKE CRAZY. A STATE OF EMERGENCY IN THIS TOWN MEANS THE RESIDENTS CAN PUT OUT THEIR DEBRIS. BASICALLY, FOR THE NEXT MONTH, UP UNTIL OCTOBER FIRST, FOR THE CITY TO PERIODICALLY AND COME TAKE THEM AWAY. CREWS VERY BUSY TODAY. AS YOU MENTIONED, THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IS STILL OUT INVESTIGATING IN WESTERN WISCONSIN. THERE WERE REPORTS THERE WERE SPOTTED TORNADOES THERE, BUT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STILL TRYING TO CONFIRM WHAT PEOPLE SAY, THAT THEY SAW THERE. SO WE TOOK A TOUR THROUGH FROM HERE INTO WESTERN WISCONSIN TO SURVEY THE DAMAGE. AND AGAIN, NOTHING MAJOR, BUT A LOT OF DEBRIS. IT LOOKS SO BAD OUT THERE. WHAT YOU SEE IN ELIZABETH OLSEN'S YARD IS WHAT MUCH OF THE WEST SIDE OF COTTAGE GROVE LOOKS LIKE. SOME DAMAGE REMAINS FROM EARLIER THIS WEEK, BUT SO MUCH MORE FROM THURSDAY NIGHT. THIS TREE CREW VOLUNTEERED THEIR TIME AS ELIZABETH CAN'T AFFORD IT, AND HER INSURANCE DOESN'T COVER IT, AND HE'S GOING TO REMOVE AS MUCH AS HE CAN AND WHATEVER HELPS, YOU KNOW, LIKE WE CAN'T DO IT ALL OURSELVES. THE TREE AND LIMB DAMAGE IN COTTAGE GROVE IS EXTENSIVE. 12 HOMES DAMAGED, ONE BEYOND REPAIR AND POWER OUTAGES. ALL THAT CAUSED THE MAYOR TO DECLARE A STATE OF EMERGENCY. WE DID HAVE A LOT OF SPARKED FIRES AND THINGS LIKE THAT THAT WERE HAPPENING THROUGHOUT THE COMMUNITY BECAUSE WE HAD MULTIPLE POWER LINES DOWN POLES SNAPPED BOTH FROM THE TREES FALLING ON THEM. BUT EVEN SOME THAT WERE JUST CLIPPED, WHICH IS SOMETHING I HAVEN'T SEEN IN OUR COMMUNITY IN THE PAST. IT WAS THAT SAME STORM SYSTEM WHICH INCLUDED REPORTED TORNADOES, THAT DID THIS AS IT MOVED INTO WESTERN WISCONSIN. THIS TRAFFIC CAMERA ON I-94 NEAR WILSON, WISCONSIN, AND THIS ON FRIDAY, THE SCENE NEAR WILSON TREES AND BRANCHES DOWN THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRYSIDE WITH A LOT OF CLEANUP TO COME. FURTHER EAST, IN THE SMALL TOWN OF KNAPP, MORE CLEANUP THAT WE FOUND AGAIN, SOME TREES BLOWN OVER, BUT MOSTLY LIMBS SPREAD ACROSS STREETS AND THROUGH YARDS. FAST IN THE RAIN. BOY, THE RAIN WAS JUST COMING DOWN IN SHEETS. YOU COULDN'T EVEN. YOU COULDN'T. I COULDN'T EVEN SEE OUT MY WINDOW. AND THEN LIGHTS WENT OUT AND I SAT THERE FOR ABOUT 15 MINUTES WAITING FOR THEM TO COME BACK ON. YEAH. AND SPEAKING OF POWER, BACK HERE IN COTTAGE GROVE, XCEL ENERGY REPORTING STILL MORE THAN 2000 CUSTOMERS HERE WITHOUT POWER. WE'VE SEEN A NUMBER OF ELECTRICAL CREWS OUT HERE, IN ADDITION TO ALL THE TREE CREWS THAT ARE WORKING AND THROUGH WESTERN WISCONSIN, WE SAW THAT SCATTERED AROUND AS WELL. A LOT OF THE CLEANUP THERE WAS GETTING DONE FAIRLY QUICKLY. AND AGAIN, AS YOU MOVE THROUGH THERE, YOU CAN SEE WHERE THE PATH OF THESE, THE SEVERE WINDS AND THE POTENTIAL TORNADOES WENT THROUGH WITH LIMBS AND TREES DOWN. YOU DIDN'T SEE THE MAJOR DAMAGE THAT YOU USED TO IN A LOT OF THESE SITUATIONS. SO A LOT OF PEOPLE PRETTY FORTUNATE THEY ESCAPED SOMETHING LARGER. BUT AGAIN, A LOT OF MESS OUT THERE THAT'S GOING TO TAKE UP THE LABOR DAY

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