August 26 2006 Nicollet County Tornado Damage

The following statements are solely mine and are not associated with those of the National Weather Service or NWS employees.

My heartfelt thanks to the families and property owners who allowed me to photograph their losses resulting from the devistating August 24th long track tornado and to the individuals who arranged for me to witness a first hand initial survey of the damage path.  I have deliberately left these photos in a larger format to show the detail of the damage.  All of the individuals we spoke to were extremely thankful for the efforts bythe NWS-MPX  WFO, SKYWARN spotters and the chasers for their roles in making sure the warnings were getting out.  Undoubtedly multiple lives were saved this day.  Out of respect for the privacy of  the landowners and homeowners, the names and exact locations of the following damages shots are being withheld.

Initial touchdown.  Note the corn stalks going both directions towards the cut.

Further east the torn just misses a hog operation and heads into the corn.  A couple of mobile cattle chutes where thrown into the legs of a feeder ripping one right out of the concrete.  Note the direction of the leaning corn stalks on both sides.

House on the east side of Nicollet about 5 minutes after the tornado hit.

Power sub-station with transformers tipped over with the concrete slabs still attached.  Kudos to Excel Energy for repairing the rest of the damage so quickly.

V snow plow pushed several feet to the south.  This used to be the storage garage for the township.  No idea how much this weighs but note it would have been facing aerodynamically into the wind and it still moved.  Remember, this goes on the front of one of the big  trucks.

Note Excel Energy already put up new poles and strung new wires in the back.  This is looking  northwest at the standing portion of the townhall.  Pieces of debris were found 1-3 miles east of this location from this building.

These are the remains of a 4 level home.  This was not new construction.  The home was built by the occupant in 1974 and had EXTRA anchors into the foundation.  The tornado pulled the washers and nuts right through the plates.  The area covered by the brown tarp is the area where the family survived.  The owner used trussed floors and likely was the difference which saved thier lives.  The pile in the back is how the debris fell.  Note the stripped trees.

Typical of the anchors on the south side of the house.  The plates were pulled right off the anchors.  An excercise treadmill origianlly in the east side of the basement was found nearly 150 yards away in a gulley.

Interior block wall between the 3rd and 4th levels (the two lowest and both with floors below ground level).  Totally seperated at the base as the tornado tried to pull the trussed floor over the lowest level off.  In my opinion, the use of the block as opposed to a standard wall kept the lowest level covered and intact with the occupants inside.

This Jeep Cherokee SUV started out inside a garage approximatel 50 feet away.  One of the survivors in the home pulled up in the vehicle only minutes before the tornado hit.  He recalled seeing three vorticies merge into one about 1/4 mile west of the house as he peered out of a basement window before ducking out of the way.

The owner of the Jeep stated he just filled the gas tank up.  Note what it is resting on.  I assume the tools and gas can were being used by the guys running the chain saws.  This family is amazing.  As we were examining the damage and recording the data, they brought us bottled water and even offered to cook us some food on the charcoal grill!  They repeatedly thank the NWS for getting the warnings out and were truley grateful for still having eachother.

August 24 2006 Chase Summary