NWS says Detroit Lakes-area tornado path was 7 miles long with windspeeds of 115 mph

The National Weather Service said a half-mile-wide tornado tore through an area north of Detroit Lakes and Highway 10 just before dusk Monday. The tornado was on the ground for nearly 7 miles and had winds of 115 mph.

Becker County Sheriff Todd Glander said two people were taken to Essentia St. Mary’s Hospital for non-life threatening injuries, and a third person went to the hospital in a private vehicle.

The twister landed in the Oakland Beach area of Floyd Lake.

“When you drive around Oakland Beach and see roofs off of houses and buildings tipped over and, honestly, people just standing there in awe, not really knowing what had happened, it’s very emotional,” said Glander.

The National Weather Service gave the tornado a rating of EF-2, referring to the Enhanced Fujita scale that meteorologists use to measure tornadoes. The scale ranges from EF-0 to EF-5.

It was the third EF-2 in Becker County history. And it was the second time a tornado had hit that plot of land, the first time being in 1999.

Lindsay Bozovsky, who lives near Lake Floyd, about two miles north of Detroit Lakes, said she was in her bedroom just before the tornado hit.

She noted the odd calm outside.

“It was like very confusing, like a silent, pouring rain. And so you almost didn't expect a tornado to happen,” she said. “So it was very confusing. Is this a tornado? Is it an extreme thunderstorm?”

Bozovsky said she did not hear any sirens because she lives in such a rural area. But the warning alarms on both her and her husband’s phones were going off, so she called out to her two young children.

“I was like, ‘Get down in the basement, get them safe, stay calm. Let's say a prayer together and get through this,’” she said.

Bozovsky’s neighbor, Emilia Thielen, a high school freshman, said she was also at home when the tornado touched down. She ran to the basement for shelter. And she said when she emerged, she was surprised by how the sky looked.

“It was just wet and red and orange, because it was like the sun was setting,” she said. “I don't know how to describe it, but the clouds were like wavy, and it was really pretty, but not very pretty before.”

Clean-up efforts begin

Kari Klingsporn Hitterdal lives on Floyd Lake and is part of the Floyd Shores Lake Association. Her home was not damaged by the storm, but she could see damage as she looked out across the lake Tuesday morning — and she was hearing from family and friends in the area.

“There was great devastation. Lots of loss of trees, there’s boats floating on the water, there’s already crews out on the lake trying to get those boats and other debris removed,” she told MPR’s Morning Edition.

Some homes around the lake were unaffected, and those residents were pitching in to help their neighbors, according to David Pettit, president of the Floyd Shores Lake Association.

He said clean up efforts will likely take weeks. Some of the biggest priorities include covering up damaged roofs and flipping overturned boats that might be leaking chemicals into the lake.

Meanwhile, he noted residents needed to watch out for hidden hazards in the lake.

“There’s bent-up docks, there's parts of people's roofs, a ton of sheet metal,” he said.

Emergency operations have been set up at M State College to assist displaced residents with shelter and other needs. The Minnesota Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Becker County Public Health, Becker County Human Services, Becker County administration and Becker County Emergency Management are providing assistance.

Glander said late Tuesday morning that 31 residents have been assisted so far at the center.

“This community, they step up, they stick together, we help each other,” he said.

The public is asked to avoid the Floyd Lake area while first responders and utility crews conduct damage assessments.

The storms also brought large hail and damaging winds as they tracked across western and central Minnesota Monday night into early Tuesday.

There were also reports of other possible brief tornado touchdowns near Lake Bronson on Monday afternoon and near Norcross on Monday night.

More than 7,000 homes and businesses remained without power across Minnesota as of early Tuesday. That number had dropped to about 3,000 by late morning.

Harshawn Ratanpal, Ben Cathey, Lukas Levin and Cathy Wurzer contributed to this report.

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