Melvin, Iowa — Some farmers in northwest Iowa and southwest Minnesota are tallying their losses after four tornadoes touched down in the region Friday night.
Todd Heitkamp, is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Sioux Falls, and he says the biggest twister hit near Melvin around 8:30 Friday evening.
Many buildings on those two farms were destroyed, but Heitkamp said the homes on the farms were NOT badly damaged. The tornado had a maximum width of 250 yards and left a path of destruction that covered six miles.
The three other tornadoes, all EF1s, were in Minnesota. In addition to toppling farm buildings, Heitkamp said the four twisters flattened crops and ripped apart trees.
One of the tornadoes that passed through Rushmore, Minnesota took down a hog confinement barn, killing dozens of animals.
Above Photo Courtesy National Weather Service
Photos Below: Tornado four miles west of Bigelow on the state line, taken by Jill Heidebrink of Sibley. Two anonymous pictures sent in by listeners — hail near Melvin and storm damage a mile west of Highway 59 on A34.
