No one was injured, but four properties sustained severe damage Sunday afternoon when three tornadoes were tracked in McLeod County.
Kevin Mathews, McLeod County’s emergency management director, said a tornado watch was issued at 2:59 p.m. It was quickly upgraded to a warning at 3:19 p.m. The first tornado was tracked southwest of Biscay, where it was on the ground for at least a few miles around Nature Avenue and 150th Street. Most of the damage was to trees, including one particularly large oak near the intersection of State Highway 22 and 150th Street.
“That was one of the biggest trees I’ve seen taken down in a storm here,” Mathews said.
Another tornado kicked up debris between Biscay and Silver Lake but caused no noteworthy damage.
The third was tracked southeast of Silver Lake. It traveled to State Highway 7 and Fox Avenue. It was the cause of damage to the four properties.
“That severe damage includes sheds, outbuildings, garage structures,” Mathews said. “Most of them were totaled. One I saw was pretty much down to the foundation. Yet the (nearby) house was still intact.”
Numerous trees were also uprooted east of Silver Lake and power lines were damaged.
“Corn in the path was flattened,” Mathews said.
Spotters were in position at 180th Street and County Road 2.
“They let us know what was moving, where it came from and where it was heading,” said Silver Lake Fire Chief Dale Kosek. “They actually saw the tornado come down to the ground ... and they were at a distance sidelining it. ... It was short-lived. It was probably on the ground a couple times, 1-2 minutes.”
Corey Behrendt, a member of the Silver Lake Volunteer Fire Department, was in Lester Prairie when the call went out. In addition to law enforcement, firefighters are often among those who respond to track storms as they attend sky warn classes every spring. Behrendt picked up his equipment and made his way to a spotting station east of Silver Lake. He traveled east along State Highway 7.
“We knew that it was traveling east-northeast in the 180th Street area, which put it to our south,” he said.
About a quarter mile out of town he spotted the tornado.
“We pulled over to the shoulder and reported back wind conditions and pertinent information,” Behrendt said.
According to the National Weather Service, all three tornadoes in McLeod County were rated as light or moderate on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Mathews noted the tornado near Silver Lake took on an unusual property. Most tornadoes are known as rope tornadoes with a thinner appearance. The tornado that damaged property near Silver Lake was a wedge tornado, characterized by higher winds and a wider structure.
“They do more damage and stay on the ground longer,” Mathews said.
Behrendt kept an eye on the wedge tornado, but kept out of its path.
“In the area of Fox Avenue, that’s where we saw the first bit of debris become airborn,” he said. “We knew it had struck some type of structure at that point.”
Read about some of the property damage in the story on A1.
“We continued to watch it pick up more and more debris along the way and eventually take a northerly direction and cross Highway 7, where it made contact with the last residence and there was more debris in the air,” Behrendt said.
Debris was later found strewn about fields as well as wedged in or wrapped around trees.
“And then it kind of started to dissipate at that point, and bring itself back up into the clouds. At that point we checked on the residence and radioed back conditions,” Behrendt said. “It was definitely not the stereotypical situation as far as what everyone likes to believe. There weren’t green skies or hail. It was just typical heavy rain.”
