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Severe Storms Hammer Minnesota, Iowa

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The Associated Press

Published: May 26, 2008

HUGO, Minn. - Severe thunderstorms packing large hail and possible tornadoes rumbled across the northern Midwest on Sunday, killing at least one person and damaging dozens of homes in this St. Paul suburb.

At least 20 people were missing after a swift storm blew through Hugo, north of St. Paul, damaging about four dozen homes, City Administrator Mike Ericson said.

"It's horrible," Ericson said. "The citizens are very shook and scared."

Hugo residents reported a tornado touching down in the area. However, that had not been confirmed by the National Weather Service.

Dozens of emergency crews descended on the town to look for those who had not been accounted for and to assess the damage.

Hugo public works director Chris Petree said his family took shelter in the basement before the storm lifted his house off the ground and wiped out the second floor.

"I put my daughter down first, my wife on top of her and then I bear-hugged on top of them," Petree said.

As he huddled in his basement against a foundation wall with his wife and 2 1/2 -year-old daughter, Petree said they heard the thunderous sound of their house coming off the ground.

"All you hear is glass breaking and wood tearing and breaking in half," Petree said.

Meanwhile, in northeastern Iowa, at least seven people were injured, one of them critically, when a possible tornado touched down near Parkersburg, authorities said.

Jim Waterbury, a spokesman for Allen Hospital in Waterloo, said that people had come from nearby Grundy Center, Aplington and Eldora for treatment of mild to moderate injuries.

"It looks like most of them injuries are fractures and broken collarbones," a Butler County Sheriff's Department official said.

"One is in critical condition," the official said.

Officials have opened Parkersburg's elementary school for evacuees.

A possible tornado also struck the nearby town of Dunkerton, with reports of structures damaged there and in rural Black Hawk County.

Power lines have also been knocked down in the area, leaving many residents without power.

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