Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 8

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Now I I recommend them to all my friends. Star Tribune photo by Joey George Lesnar locks up what remains of his St Peter home Sunday night Gov. Arne Carlson said that he plans to cut short a trip to Washington, D.C, so he can visit the communities hardest hit by tornadoes. ALL SERVICES! drapery cleaning Carpet Cleaning Call for a FREE estimate! upholstery Cleaning Area Rug Cleaning air duct cleaning Despite the warnings, apparently no tornado touched down. Amazingly, sound could keep a sense of humor in the midst of tragedy.

Marv Noyd, who works for the city of St. Peter as an engineering technician, walked across fallen plaster as he climbed the stairs of his home. "Here is a bedroom," he said. "It's air conditioned right now as you can tell." Staff writer Kimberly Hayes Taylor and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Even portions of south-central Minnesota that were spared the tornado-like winds suffered.

Golf ball-sized hail pelted Rochester, Sleepy Eye, Monticello and Carver County. Lightning reportedly struck homes in Andover and Fridley. Other than a series of downpours, most of the Twin Cities was spared. Dakota County seemed hit hardest in the metro area, reporting rain, strong winds and severe hail. Belle Plaine was among the first communities just outside the Twin Cities to sound its sirens.

Jllu. Cant Goldman 3f Experience nfllT! YouCanTrust Srar.lromAl In downtown St. Peter, people use shovels to clean up glass Sixteen people from Comfrey were treated for injury or trauma, said Scott Thoreson, administrator for Springfield Medical Center. Some of those hospitalized spoke through tears about how much of Main Street including the city hall had been wiped out At least one elderly person in Hanska was critically injured in the storm, said Jeff Hohensee of the New Ulm Police Department. Authorities had no other details, but said the cities of Hanska and Sfarles also were hard hit by the severe weather.

Brown County deputies were attempting to go from farm to farm to assess the damage and check on residents. 5 More than a dozen mobile homes were overturned in Le Center. But residents had gone to a newly built shelter in the park. I As many as 175 Le Center residents had been moved Le Center High School because of several reported gas leaks in the community. A 4-H building had been blown down, many trees and light poles had been knocked over, roofs were torn off and gas pumps were blown off an island in front of a convenience store.

A small restaurant was destroyed and several buildings at the LeSueur County Fairgrounds were badly damaged. In St. Peter, a city of nearly 10,000 people, the tornado uprooted hundreds of trees, ripped off roofs, blew down power lines and turned Minnesota Avenue, the city's downtown business area, into a sea of broken glass. "It's devastating," said St. Peter Police Chief Brad Kollmann.

"The damage is very extensive and not confined to just one area. It took a path through the main part of the city." Debris from St Peter was found 55 miles away in the St. Paul suburbs of Apple Valley and Eagan. Shortly after 7:30 p.m., patrol officers blocked access to St. Peter, whose streets were dark, with no light except for the flashing of police vehicles and ambulances.

The Rev. Matthew Rauh, 35, Was in Mankato when the tornado bjt. When he returned to St. Peter, the church where he held a service for 350 congregants Sunday morning was gone. "I heard things banging abound, but I never would have imaged it was this bad," Caroline Lesnar said.

She and her husband have lived in the house since the 1950s, raised their children there and now it is destroyed. Jane Timmerman, the city recreation director, went to check on people at a community center. She heard a voice. "I followed that cry and it was a man under that rubble," she said. The man, found face down, told her he had been walking by and somehow ended lip inside.

He was treated at a hop-sjtal, Timmerman said. Sarah Jeliff, 20, of Grand Forks, N.D., a student at Gustavus Adol-phus College, was working at More-4, when the tornado hit shortly after 5 p.m.: "It happened so fast. Houses were gone in seconds," including fiers. a "We have broken glass pretty much everywhere," said Axel Sleuer, president of Gustavus Adolphus. Most of the 2,350 students were away on spring break.

About 100 were there and were told to go to the physical education building for the night. Steuer said that the campus was scheduled to reopen Sunday, but he would have to assess whether it could reopen on time. John Dyke, deputy chief of staff for Gov. Arne Carlson, gave the authorization to have the National Guard called out, as the governor was out of town. "Everyone needs to stay off of the roads going into St.

Peter on Highway 169," said Carol Mocko-vak, information officer for the state Department of Public Safety. She said there were many gas leaks, and numerous agencies responded. Several area fire departments were on the scene helping, and officials were making a sweep of the area to check on residents. Two people from Le Center, one with a neck injury, the other with an arm injury were treated and released from Minnesota Valley Health Center in LeSueur, Donna Enga, a nurse said. Four people from Westbrook were treated for minor injuries and released from Windom Area Hospital, said Lori Mastin, the charge floor nurse.

St. Peter Hospital was reported full, according to Tracy Woitas, communications operator with the state patrol in Mankato, and was no longer taking patients. She said it was operating on emergency power. "Lots of people were driving who had shattered windows in cars and vans," Mockovak said. The windows presumably shattered from debris, but she wasn't certain.

Ellie Merritt, a reporter with KEYC-TV in Mankato, said: "It does look like a bomb hit there in St.Peterl." In St. Peter's downtown business area, owners were using snow shovels to scoop up glass on the ground. Many of the buildings are brick, and bricks were scattered everywhere. "People are outside shaking their heads, saying 'This is my house, what am I going to Merritt said. Wright said about 11 people were admitted to Immanuel-St.

Joseph's Hospital with ailments ranging from heart attacks to a liver laceration. One boy had both of his arms broken. She said that with electrical power out in St. Peter, a hospital there was transferring injured people to the Mankato hospital. In Lonsdale, there was some damage to buildings, but not as extensive as either St.

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