Amid destruction, there is grief, relief It was over in less than two hours. That was all the time it took for Sunday's tornadoes to ruin the lives of thousands of Minnesotans, who spent Monday picking through the wreckage. Along a 60-mile swath, hundreds of houses, churches, schools, silos, factories and barns were blasted into rubble and kindling. The tiny town of Comfrey was nearly destroyed. Most of the buildings in the larger city of St. Peter were wrecked. Power still was out in both towns. Lesser devastation occurred in Le Center and a few other small By Bob von Sternberg, Richard Meryhew and Pat Doyle Star Tribune Staff Writers In the tornadoes' wake communities. And uncounted farms and rural homes in three counties were damaged. In all, at least 700 houses and apartments were destroyed or battered to the point where they are uninhabitable; another 1,800 sustained damage. Thousands of residents were banished to makeshift shelters and the homes of friends and relatives. More than 100 businesses were damaged, more than half of them destroyed. For all the immense destruction in an area where about 15,000 people live, the human toll could have been worse: Two people died, and at least 38 people were injured badly enough to be hospitalized. Turn to STORMS on A11
