St. Cloud Times from Saint Cloud, Minnesota • Page 8

8A Daily Times, St. Cloud, Minn. Sept. 4, 1980 Farmers escape r0kJ worst damage By KRISTIN GILGER Time Stan Writer Most Stearns County farmers appeared to have escaped the worst of Wednesday night's storm damage. Although some fields in a line extending from Melrose to St.

Cloud received a beating from high winds and hail, few farmers reported extensive damage this morning. Francis Januschka, Stearns County extension agent, said corn flattened by the wind "should get up again," and he 'expects only spotty crop damage. "Most of it hit the towns," he said, surveying his own tornado-ravaged office at the 2700 Building, 2700 First St. in St. Cloud.

i About 20 acres of corn were flattened on the Ervin Klaphake farm two miles southwest of Melrose when a tornado destroyed everything within a one-block wide strip at about 7 p.m. Virginia Klaphake said two turkey barns were twisted by the storm and the roofs blown off. A storage shed "is completely gone," she said, while a feed mill was damaged and the gas tanks were ripped off the corn drying bin. The farm house shingles were ripped off and windows blown out and most of their trees are down. There were reports that some of the turkeys from the farm were blown onto the neighboring Meadow Lark Country Club golf course, but Klaphake said it will be a while before they can tell whether any of the animals are missing.

Like many of their neighbors, the Klaphakes also are dairy farmers and the storm hit right at milking time. Two sons who were milking in the barn at the time said they saw a picnic table and a decorative wishing well "go up into the sky and we still don't know where they are," she said. Another son reported that the tornado approached the farm from the southwest looking like white feathers rolling around in the sky," she said. "It was a white tornado, not a dark one." Neighbors Joseph and Catherine Primus also suffered damage on their farm. "The garage is gone, the windmill is down, the silo moved off its foundation and' the shingles are off the barn, house and machine shed," Catherine Primus ticked off wearily.

Although they hadn't yet checked all their crops this morning, those nearby the house appeared to be in good condition, she said. Near Gilman in Benton County, the Duane Stum-voll family was hit with its second major disaster of the year when a tornado ripped through their dairy barn, causing about $75,000 worth of damage. The barn burned down in March of this year and they had just rebuilt it in May, said Stumvoll. With a pricetag of $100,000, the barn had been called a showpiece of modern dairy conveniences. Stumvoll and his wife, Judy, were in the barn milking at about 7:30 p.m.

when they heard what sounded like a train whistle growing louder and louder. "And then the barn just exploded," said Judy TimM nhntn hu fttnuA Wrtlt Using lights powered by generators, firemen combed the wreckage of Bel Clare Acres. 111. 1 niFi US fill "VX' 1. IWWIII1L 1TPS VV btumvoll.

Stumvoll said he saw the funnel come right through the barn, first tearing off the roof and then the entire back end of the barn. About 30 feet also was ripped off a new silo. When the storm hit, 'some 60 dairy cows "tore up to the parlor end of the barn" out of the path of the tornado. "I think that's what saved them," Stumvoll said. A few cows are suffering lameness from flying debris, but none are seriously hurt, he said.

Stumvoll said his wife tried to get out of the barn before the storm hit, "but the pressure was so great, she couldn't get the barn doors open." She called the house from die barn and instructed their two children to go the basement. They made it just as the tornado hit, he said. rb I i riw 1 1 A II. i mies pnuiu uy mine ruiuan Debris from smashed trailers and their residents' belongs covered the ground in Bel Clare Acres this morning. 4 XmBm 7 A i i 1 4 -Jm Times photo by Steve Wort After broken gas lines were shut off, firemen sifted through the debris at Bel Clare Acres.

I 'A Roots Ipfn otfl 1 First Street North Division Street 1 I Walls lL Plaza i o.z jz ism West airucturai gamage 3 homes destroyed r''msn, I 2 apartment complexes -JVi nu" J6y severely damaged Acres I Jp-' 1h St. Bel Clare 1 killed 'C tm Acr8 13 homes destroyed 3r -'if Times photo by Steve WoK Mrs. Joseph Yocus collected some of the is listed in fair condition at the St. Cloud belongings of her son, Tony. Tony, who was Hospital, injured when the tornado hit Bel Clare Acres, Times map by Ann Sell Map shows the locations of the heaviest storm damage in St.

Cloud and Waite Park.