2 rounds of storms cause heavy damage in south Metro

APPLE VALLEY, Minn. (FOX 9) - The one-two punch of storms left an ugly mark and forced a lot of neighborhoods into cleanup mode.

Power crews spent the entire day in the Apple Valkey neighborhood and restored power late Tuesday afternoon.

"We lost our maple [tree];" said Jane Colford. "That was a big maple that was there. And then that tree went down."

Maple and pine trees were down to dust after falling in Colford’s backyard on Tuesday morning.

She and her husband slept peacefully until they heard what sounded like a train headed for their home.

"All of a sudden it was just kind of like rain was pouring," she said. "Then we heard a big boom in the house. We were so lucky it ended up as just that."

A tiny dent in the gutter is the only mark on the house, but a couple of minutes of straight-line winds wiped out decades of growth, leaving the yard looking naked and un-shaded.

The cleanup kept tree services hard at work trying to erase the storm’s mark.

"Not the biggest storm we've had, but there's a few down here and there," said Travis Heil of Hoheisel Tree Service.

Downed trees blocked roads, crushed fences, and damaged power lines on a path of destruction through the south Metro.

It’s also cut down the distance between people living on the same block.

"The neighbors are pitching in and everybody is coming together," said Chandra Workman as a neighbor sawed her tree into pieces to get it off the road. "And that's the most lovely thing, you know?"

This cleanup can get pretty expensive — well into the thousands for some people.

The city will only pick up twigs and small branches.

Anything bigger needs to be hauled to a yard waste site.

Or, in some cases, it becomes free firewood.