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Tornado rips small southern Minnesota city apart
Surveyors from the National Weather Service confirmed at four tornadoes touched down during severe storms on Tuesday in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. The small town of Taopi took a direct hit with several homes and buildings leveled, some trees uprooted, and numerous cars overturned in the storm. Taopi is in Minnesota's Mower County, about 120 miles south of the Twin Cities. Despite the damage, there were no reported injuries.
(FOX 9) - Surveyors from the National Weather Service confirmed at four tornadoes touched down during severe storms on Tuesday in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa.
The small town of Taopi took a direct hit with several homes and buildings leveled, some trees uprooted, and numerous cars overturned in the storm. Taopi is in Minnesota's Mower County, about 120 miles south of the Twin Cities.
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Drone footage of Southern Minnesota storm damage
Drone footage of the damage left after a storm rolled through Taopi, Minnesota.
"I was watching the Timberwolves. And then an alert comes on the phone... tornado warning for our area. Let's go watch it down the basement. We went down there, and it just felt like a vacuum, suction you know. Looks like a train went through," Taopi resident Jim Kiefer said,
The National Weather Service says an EF-2 tornado ripped through Taopi, with winds peaking 132 miles per hour. Surveyors also confirmed EF-1 tornadoes in Spring Valley, Minnesota, Brownville, Iowa, and Riceville, Iowa. Those tornadoes caused damage to farms and ripped down trees.
After five years of restoring what was once the post office, the historic building was destroyed – just as it was getting ready to be used as the new town hall.
"It was just like having five freight trains all meeting at the center and the noise is unbearable," said Bill Lukes.
Luke’s house had its entire side ripped off by the storms in Taopi. He was in an upstairs bedroom when he heard the unmistakable noise.
"Somewhere while we were on steps, the whole side of the house left and did not even realize it until we made it back downstairs," said Lukes. "Then we see the neighbor’s house through the house."
The tornado moved through Taopi around 10:45 p.m. Tuesday night, leaving the westside of the small city essentially destroyed with cars flipped over, others buried in rubble, homes beyond repair and some more or less gone.
"We’re thinking we’ve probably got eight to ten homes that are totally destroyed that can’t be repaired in this town," said Taopi Mayor Mary Huntley. "That’s 40 to 45 percent of our houses."
Steve Eischens said he could barely make it the 50 feet to his son’s house to take shelter in his basement Tuesday night. Within a minute of reaching the home, he heard the telltale freight train sound emerging in the dark to devastation, only realizing the full extent of it when morning came, and they could see it in daylight.
"It’s hard because I’ve lived here for 52 years seeing your neighbors and everybody going through this it’s hard," said Steve Eischens.
With dozens of people showing up to help clean up, friends and relatives from towns nearby, people try to keep their spirits up. There were no serious injuries reported in town, which is also hard to believe.
"We’re all healthy, we all made it, the people right here in Taopi, no one hurt," said the mayor.