×

Possible tornado touches down near Eagle Grove

Trees and buildings damaged

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
A tree cracked in half by strong winds just barely missed this house on 330th Street just outside of Woolstock in rural Wright County. Homeowner Jake Grandgeorge said no one was home when the storm hit and it appears there is no significant damage to the house.

EAGLE GROVE — A severe thunderstorm with high winds and a possible tornado inflicted some damage in rural Wright County, between Eagle Grove and Woolstock, on Tuesday afternoon.

Shortly after 3 p.m. on Tuesday, a storm hit the area, causing damage to several trees, as well as destroying a machine shed at 1365 308th St.

Wright County Emergency Management Coordinator Jarika Eisentrager said that the county had not yet confirmed that the weather that hit the Woolstock area was in fact a tornado.

“We do have some trees down and there’s a machine shed that’s pretty roughed up, but the National Weather Service hasn’t confirmed that it was a tornado touchdown,” she said.

The machine shed on Dan Flumerfelt’s property on 308th Street ended up a shredded and mangled mess, tangled in some tree branches and strewn across a field on the other side of the tree line. It appeared that the wind or the possible tornado ripped the metal machine shed right out of the ground, leaving behind the combine tractor it was protecting.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Debris is scattered around a ditch on 330th Street, just outside of Woolstock in rural Wright County following a storm on Tuesday afternoon.

Flumerfelt said that his family was home when the storm hit, but thankfully the winds did not damage the family home or any other buildings on the farm, and no one was injured.

“It could have been a lot worse, for sure,” he said.

Jake Grandgeorge, another resident of Wright County, is counting himself lucky after the storm caused a tree in front of his house to crack in half and tip over, just narrowly missing the front of the house on 330th Street just west of Woolstock.

“I was working on the machine shed at my grandma’s place and got done and came home and saw this,” he said.

Other than some bent rain gutters, there was no obvious damage to the home. However, a closer inspection will be needed, Grandgeorge said.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
A machine shed owned by Dan Flumerfelt, of Eagle Grove, was severely damaged during a storm on Tuesday afternoon. The machine shed originally covered the machinery pictured, but was ripped out of the ground by a possible tornado in rural Wright County.

“There’s no broken windows,” he said. “We won’t know about all the damage until we get up in the attic and see if there’s anything there.”

Wright County emergency personnel continued checking out the storm’s damage around the county for the remainder of the afternoon.

“We have a lot of people out making sure that no one is injured, making sure all the damage is assessed,” Eisentrager said.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
A metal machine shed at 1365 308th St., southeast of Eagle Grove, was shredded due to high winds and a possible tornado on Tuesday afternoon. The shed was picked up by the wind, flown over a line of trees and shredded, with debris catching in the trees and scattering across a cornfield next to the lot.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
A tree is snapped low on its trunk at 1365 308th St., southeast of Eagle Grove, on Tuesday afternoon. Severe thunderstorms with high winds and a possible tornado passed through the area.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
A piece of debris from a machine shed is caught on the top branches of a tree following a storm Tuesday afternoon in rural Wright County between Eagle Grove and Woolstock.

-Submitted photo
Strong winds damaged trees and blew debris along 330th Street, west of Woolstock in Wright County Tuesday afternoon.

-Submitted photo
A strong storm with high wind gusts damaged several trees on 330th Street west of Woolstock Tuesday afternoon.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today