Where were you during
the “tornado event” - 2018?
Keeping sewage and water systems working plus chain sawing their way to disaster areas was just part of the effort put forth by Cannon Falls city workers and volunteers last September 20, a Thursday, and during the following days in the tornado event that hit the area.
It was reviewed by city officials and residents at a meeting of the Cannon Falls Area TRIAD and recently put on Youtube... "Responding to the Cannon Falls Tornado".
Previous Public Works Director and present Fire Chief Mike Althoff explained the role he and his staff played.
Althoff went the first 48 hours with only 2 hours sleep and only a couple of phone calls to his wife and 5 month old son to see if they were OK at home. (Yes, they had gone down to their basement and were secure though scared.)
Althoff recalled seeing: The sky turning green… it looked like a wall cloud… the sound was like a freight train going through… at the fire station we took people in off the street for protection… they saw trees flying by…. branches…
“Then it stopped and the sun came out. “
Biggest problem…
The biggest problem was that the ground was already saturated from rainfall the week before. So some trees on the boulevards pulled up the gas lines as they fell.
They got the gas leaks taken care of in a few hours.
There was one power line down and one person trapped in a trailer house and a person cut by glass but there were no serious injuries.
Follow up…
Cannon Falls Police Chief Jeff McCormick added: “Power was returned to the community fully by Saturday evening. A few locations still had to replace their pole to meter lines before they could be connected. Once the power lines were off the streets then most of the streets were opened by Monday. A few were still closed because of low hanging phone or cable lines for a few more days.”
Also noted by Althoff was that in the next couple of days the nursing home had to be evacuated because of a mechanical problem and later on Twin Rivers had a voluntary evacuation.
Folks offered food and washing facilities to neighbors who didn’t have them.
In the following days, “sight-seeing tourists” became a distraction as folks wanted to see what had happened. Later on a volunteer work crew from a larger area gathered to help.
It was dealing carefully and promply with these experiences that kept Cannon Falls and vicinity from even more extreme difficulties. .
St. Ansgar’s pioneer cemetery
The devastation of the St. Ansgar’s Pioneer Cemetery on the south end of Cannon Falls haunted many residents. Charles Sabrowsky is Chair of the Cemetery Committee and information from Loren Evenrude showed the progress they have made in removing and restoring the area.
Part of the project included making a “ground penetrating radar search to mark all known burial sites."
Other insights…
Randy Nicolai from Frontier Ag & Turf recalled: ”It destroyed our building for equipment storage and a new one was put back up within a few months.
“Our repair shop had about 30’ of the roof torn off and the overhead door destroyed, the roof repaired in a week and the door replaced in a month or so. Other inside building repairs were done before it got cold outside.
We still see some of the insulation stuck to a few things around our lot area.”
Hobert’s lost huge trees…
Ten 40 foot trees were lost according to John Hobert living outside Cannon Falls. John recalled that it was the coming garage sale weekend. His wife and daughter had been setting up for their sale. They moved things quickly so they could get their car in the garage.
John added, we were huddled in our small bathroom downstairs and had no house damage. But we weren’t prepared - had no lights, etc.
Ray Kimmes - west of town
in direct line of the tornadoes
in direct line of the tornadoes
Ray Kimmes was in line with the storm on the west side of the county near Stanton. He explained at the meeting that he was at home having a cup of coffee when he got a call from his grandson. It was 6:54 p.m. His grandson told him to get downstairs fast.
Ray went down into a concrete room and at 7:03 p.m. he came back upstairs and it was all over. But water was coming through his roof and down through the different levels of his house into the basement. Plus he also lost many trees.
Any longterm effects?
Chief McCormick concluded that the look of the parks and cemeteries is the most obvious. When the leaves fall again you will be able to see the large number of trees down in the wooded areas around town. Most of the damage to buildings has been repaired.
Conclusion…
There are many more stories to tell. They’re good to remember.
