Powerful tornadoes cut a ragged swath of destruction across southern Minnesota, killing a 6-year-old boy and carrying debris up to 55 miles away. At least three dozen people were injured.
Brad Bencke said he drove into the tornado in St. Peter on his way to an emergency shelter."It picked the car up about 3 feet in the air and it was shaking, not just levitating," said Bencke, 25. Car windows were blown out and Bencke's 11-month-old child needed 10 stitches.
The Sunday afternoon twisters flattened homes, uprooted trees and downed power lines in St. Peter and Le Center in south-central Minnesota and Comfrey in the southwestern portion of the state.
Debris was found 55 miles away in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburbs of Apple Valley and Eagan, including a piece of the obituary page from the St. Peter Herald newspaper that turned up in Apple Valley. A page from what appeared to be a library book from Le Center was found in Eagan, 40 miles away.
Dustin Schneider was killed when the van he was riding in was thrown into a muddy field near St. Peter. The wind sucked the boy out of the van and tossed him 150 yards. At least 38 people were treated in hospitals in Mankato and Springfield, and three were listed in critical condition.
Gov. Arne Carlson sent the National Guard to the hardest-hit com-munities.
"It's devastating," said St. Peter Police Chief Brad Kollmann. "The damage is very extensive and not confined to just one area. It took a path through the main part of the city."
Tornadoes are rare in Minnesota in March.
Officials estimated 200 to 300 homes were damaged in St. Peter, a town of about 10,000 people. Broken bricks littered the downtown, trees were uprooted, storefronts were broken and the shattered contents of a boat store lay scattered over a six-block area. One metal shed looked as if it had been scrunched up like a ball of aluminum foil.
"We have broken glass pretty much everywhere," said Axel Steuer, president of Gustavus Adolphus College. Many buildings on the picturesque campus in St. Peter were also damaged, including the chapel, which lost its spire.
In Comfrey, a town of about 550 people, the fire station, the liquor store, a cafe and a church were completely demolished, and the school sustained heavy damage. Gas leaks forced residents to evacuate.