Past the storms

What started as a normal, sunny day quickly turned devastating. Friday, April 17, will always be engraved in my brain and might possibly be one of the most intense tornado days in southeastern Minnesota that I will ever live through.

I was on my way to a farm just east of Plainview to meet with a local milk hauler and take photos for our Dairy Star newspaper. I had stopped in St. Charles to fuel up when I checked my phone and saw a text from my boss, Laura Seljan. She mentioned there was a tornado spotted right above our old house, close to Oslo. Not thinking much at the time, I continued toward Plainview.

Laura, who is also a close friend of my mom, called her to share the news. My mom told her I had just left the house. Moments later, Laura called me and said, “You need to head to your aunt’s house now, the storm is heading toward you.”

I quickly called my aunt, Holly Thompson, who is a dairy farmer near the Quincy Town Hall, and told her I was nearby and asked if I could wait out the storm there. I am grateful I did. Just as I entered the driveway, the rain and wind started picking up.

When I arrived, I noticed a truck and sprayer in the field across the road. It was my cousin, Nick. At first, we weren’t too worried. We had seen the truck leave with fertilizer, but Nick, who was in the sprayer, hadn’t left yet.

That’s when the panic started to set in.

Emergency alerts began sounding on our phones as Nick continued working in the field. Holly tried calling him, but there was no answer. We hoped he was already on the phone with his boss. When we finally reached him, he said he was heading back to the plant in St. Charles. Fully loaded, he could only drive 25 mph, but thankfully, the storm wasn’t directly in his path.

By then, the rain was coming down heavily. Alerts kept going off as we sat at the dining table watching the news. My mom texted me saying there were three tornadoes around us. Looking out the kitchen window, we could see the dark storm only a few miles away.

The warning kept getting extended. Then, suddenly, the wind and rain stopped. It felt eerie. The sky started brightening up, but the storm clouds to the west kept getting darker and continued moving north.

The warning lifted, and the storm passed. I headed back home. The entire 30-minute drive showed no visible damage. It felt strange knowing that, not far from where I was driving, there were homes that were lost.

Once I arrived home, I spoke to my mom. She mentioned how the wind got so very still that she could hear the sirens from town, which is 6 miles away. They had experienced only a few drops of rain, which came as a shocker because, while I was watching the news, our farm was always under a warning.

Later that night, Holly sent photos.

About 1 mile northwest of their farm, a neighbor’s home was destroyed. Thankfully, the women inside made it to the basement and were unharmed.

As we head into warmer weather, this is a friendly reminder to all of us — especially me — to stay alert and take warnings seriously. Things can change in an instant.