About three weeks ago, the city of Clarissa in the state of Minnesota was rocked when an EF1 tornado tore up the town. That was on Thursday, May 12.
Approximately three weeks later, the scene above greeted people in the city of Eagle Bend which is located about five miles from Clarissa.
To have one tornado go through the county was a rarity but to have two in less than one month's time was devestating.
We realize that there were areas that were hit harder by the storms of Monday, May 30 but when I was in school I was taught to "write what you know." I know Eagle Bend.
We were actually in Osakis when this storm hit. We were heading toward Alexandria to have a fish fry for the Memorial Day holiday. However, we got there a little late!
As we were arriving in the outskirts of Osakis, I could hear the sirens blaring indicting that this weather event was no longer a tornado watch but was now a warning which meant either a tornado was spotted or a radar-indicated tornado had been seen.
We wasted no time speeding through town to find shelter. Because it was Memorial Day, we were not sure we would find anything open. To our relief, Dollar General was open and the gentlemen who were working there let us in and told us to go to the women's restroom as that was the designated shelter.
We hunkered down in there with two other women who soon became friends sharing about themselves and their families as we did likewise. The two male employees would periodically check in with us to give us updates on the storm as we could see nothing in this small, windowless, inner room.
We sure could hear it though. It sounded like a roaring lion out to devour whomever got into its way! I half expected to open the bathroom door and find that the women's room was the only thing left of Dollar General. But the storm had mostly passed after what seemed like an eternity, but was actually only about 45 minutes.
When we left the store we did go to Alexandria and enjoyed our fish fry with friends and shared our tale as they shared about sheltering in the basement with water pouring in.
We saw quite a bit of damage from roofs being torn off of buildings and trees uprooted. In fact, on the way home, we had to stop because of a tree that had fallen across the highway. Two men had stopped and were sawing it up when we arrived.
We thanked them and they said they were just trying to get home after spending a few hours in Eagle Bend helping there. They had their chainsaws with them and made short work of the felled tree.
We live in a largely rural farming community and this is another site we saw all the way home.
We saw hundreds of acres of already planted fields that now resembled lakes. The Land of 10,000 Lakes (Minnesota's nick name) looked more like the land of 100,000 lakes!
These things were small compared to the photos we were seeing of the city of Eagle Bend, however.
The damage and the clean-up
Eagle Bend was much like Clarissa had been three weeks prior: trees uprooted everywhere and tossed onto houses, on power lines, blocking streets.
In addition to the damage caused by the tornadic activity, there was also water damage as the circular pouring rain made conditions even worse because no one could see more than a few feet if that.
As we know, water can cause mold and mildew problems as well as generally ruining things.
Part of the clean-up process we used in our house after the Clarissa tornado included using Vital Oxide to help with the odors caused by the water pouring into the hole in our ceiling. We sprayed it on the carpets and let it work its magic. Within a few hours, the odors were mostly gone as Vital Oxide worked to kill the mold and mildew and bacteria.
We know the people of Eagle Bend are going to have a long haul of cleaning ahead of them and our hearts go out to them for their losses and for the hard work coming.
I know from experience that Vital Oxide can help with the process.
Use it to clean up and sanitize everything in your house and outside of your house, too.
I think we may be seeing a lot more of this sort of weather this summer. I heard on the radio today that the storm chasers who usually spend a lot of their time in Oklahoma are planning to spend a lot of time in Minnesota this season. It's not the kind of news we want to hear, but if we do have more weather-related events, we will be here to make clean-up easier at least as far as mold, mildew and bacteria-growth goes.
Whether you are "weathering" a storm or just need to make sure your home, work space, church or other gathering area is safer, talk with us, we can tell you all the ways we can help you.
How LastGerm can help you...
LastGerm can help you with mold and mildew remediation. It is what we do. We have the equipment to help you. We can spray your wet basement, your carpets, or anywhere you need it. We don't just help when the storms of life hit, but all the time.
We can either do the job for you or we can set you up with what you need to do the job yourself.
Contact us about special pricing to help you deal with the effects of this recent storm.
If you have further questions or what to know more about how we can help, please contact us and we will set you up with an agent near you that will be happy to assist you.