Tornado damages homes, businesses in Spicer
The tornado that touched down in Spicer yesterday brought down heavy trees and damaged the roofs of about half a dozen homes, but an official says it's too soon to assess the cost of the damage.
Denny Baker, the mayor of the west-central Minnesota town, said the tornado caused the most damage to an elderly couple's home. He said the two weren't injured, but said they watched the tornado lift the roof off their house.
"He was out in the garage doing some puttering around and all of a sudden he heard something and he went to the house and he said, 'Let's get to the basement.' Before they could get to the basement... the roof went," Baker said.
The tornado also hit a ballpark and a grocery store in a large shopping center area.
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"The grocery store needed to shut down for a period of time because it took a window out and scattered some goods," he said. "There was a lot of damage to cars in the mall parking lot from debris that came from the ballpark area."
Many residents stayed up late last night cleaning up the debris and trees, he added.
Baker said east of the city, about four hobby farms and other buildings were heavily damaged. Baker said it's too soon to know the dollar amount of the damage.
In St. Cloud, the severe thunderstorm brought heavy downpours and minor street flooding in areas where the storm sewers couldn't keep up with the pouring rain.
