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Residents in Minnesota and Wisconsin are
cleaning up from a fierce storm whose heavy winds toppled trees
that killed an 11-year-old girl and injured more than three dozen
people.

      The Friday storm tore roofs off buildings, blew in garages and
left thousands without power.

      Wisconsin authorities say three of the 39 injuries were
critical. Emergency officials originally attributed two deaths to
the storm but later said one death was an apparent heart attack
that might be indirectly storm-related.

      Injuries were also reported in Minnesota's Douglas and Meeker
counties.

     A search was underway Saturday along the St. Croix River for
missing canoeists, the Wisconsin Emergency Management Office
reported. Boats were upended and blown ashore in the area, while an
airport hangar in neighboring Douglas County collapsed.

      The storm came at one of the worst times of the year for rural
Burnett County: a summer holiday weekend, when the area's lakes and
rivers attract tens of thousands of visitors, said Julie Kittleson
of the county's emergency response center.

      "The population here is about 15,000. But this weekend there's
probably about 80,000," she said of the county, which is about 90
miles northeast of Minneapolis.

      Law enforcement reported the girl who died was killed when a
tree fell on her at a campground in the country, though no other
details have been released.

      The storm moved into southwest Minnesota on Friday afternoon and
took nearly six hours to pass through before slipping into
northwest Wisconsin, said Matt Friedlein, a National Weather
Service meteorologist. The bad weather had moved out by Saturday
morning, when skies were clear and sunny with temperatures in the
80s.

      Anita Frase, the owner of Bay Park Resort & Campground in Trego,
said she and the resort's 300 visitors knew a storm was coming but
they didn't expect it to hit so swiftly and with such intensity.

      "About 9 o'clock the winds picked up and within five minutes it
was upon us. Those were probably the darkest skies I've ever seen
up here," she said, adding that the storm knocked down several
trees, with some landing on vehicles. "A lot of people were very
nervous. Some of the kids were crying."

      Workers were also rattled at a Grantsburg store near the St.
Croix River that rents canoes, kayaks and gear. Store clerk Aimee
Van Tatenhove said the wind was so strong and loud that no one
realized a medium-sized tree had fallen into the roof until
employees went outside.

      In Minnesota, a driver was injured when hail the size of a
baseball hit a vehicle's windshield, said Meeker County Sheriff
Jeff Norlin. Roofs were torn away in several towns.

      "Some communities had multiple passes at this storm - including
golfball-, baseball- and softball-sized hail," said McLeod County
Emergency Management Director Kevin Mathews, who said two
tractor-trailers were blown off local highways.

      Two Minnesota state parks sustained tree damage so heavy that a
conservation officer who was making sure no campers were in the
area had to abandon his vehicle and hike through on foot, said
Chris Niskanen of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

      He urged people to stay out of Camden State Park and St. Croix
State Park, which are technically closed because of the state's
government shutdown but could still attract campers because they're
public land. He cautioned that some trees may have fallen over but
gotten hung up on other trees.

      "It's an issue of health and safety," he said. "Since those
parks are closed they don't have the personnel to go in and remove
(the trees). People need to know there's a danger if they start
wandering around."

Gallery

Weather and Climate News

A fierce summer storm packing
straight-line winds approaching 80 mph marched through Minnesota
and Wisconsin Friday, leaving in its wake damaged homes and
structures, toppled trees and several thousand blacked-out utility
customers.

Residents in Minnesota and Wisconsin are cleaning up from a fierce storm

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