3-Generation Belle Plaine Farm Significantly Damaged In Monday Night Storm
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The National Weather Service spent the day in Scott County accessing the damage following Monday night's severe weather. The surveyors confirmed an EF0 tornado caused this widespread damage.
The Buszmann's own a three-generation cattle farm in Belle Plaine, along Highway 7. Their home was untouched after the storm rolled through, but two of their barns were wiped out and the roof of a third barn was ripped off.
As farm owner Keith Buszmann showed WCCO the damage, he pointed out, "part of the tractor, the tractor is inside the trailer."
The barn that lost its roof housed dozens of cows. All of the cows were inside the barn at the time the storm rolled through, but Buszmann said all cows survived and were unharmed.
"I think we're still kind of in shock a little bit," said Jessica Buszman, who grew up on this farm with her younger brother, Jeremy.
The siblings said they have a lot of childhood memories in the barns that were destroyed in the storm.
"I spent a lot of time in [that barn] cleaning up and helping my dad out," said Jeremy Buszmann, "Seeing it gone, it's kind of hard to comprehend almost."
Jessica Buszmann was coming home from her job in downtown Minneapolis Monday night, and outdrove the storm by just minutes.
"I parked here and about 5 minutes later the storm hit, super suddenly. We ran downstairs, my mom screamed, 'Get in the basement! Get in the basement!' and we all ran downstairs and two minutes after that it was done," said Jessica Buszmann.
No one in the Buszmann family was hurt in this storm.
"We're all safe, so we're thankful for that," said Keith Buszmann.
Despite the scope of damage on their property, the Buszmann family still feels hopeful because they have insurance coverage. They were unable to start the cleanup process on Tuesday because they have to wait for the insurance adjusters to finish their assessment of the damage.