'A Big Boom': Surveying Storm Damage In The North Metro
ROSEVILLE, Minn. (WCCO) – The bulk of the damage from Tuesday night's storms was along and south of the Interstate 94 corridor -- an area that includes the Twin Cities metro.
For residents in Roseville, located in the north metro, the drama was over in just seconds.
"For about 10 seconds, it blew and blew and blew," said Andrew Houck, who lives on Roselawn Avenue.
Houck is the youngest of three generations of Houcks that live on the street.
"A big boom, and then there was a massive white, bright light," he said.
The light show occurred after an elm tree was blown over. One wind gust around 7 p.m. toppled the tree.
No one was injured, but a power line was hit.
"If it went the other direction, it would have definitely done some damage to our house," Houck said.
Houck's grandfather, Dick, remembers playing around the tree as a kid, when the area was known as Rose Township.
"My dad moved out here in 1926, bought two and a half acres, and he planted these trees," Dick Houck said. "So they gotta be close to 100 years old."
Similar scenes played out around Roseville. For instance, one massive silver maple fell over near Roselawn Cemetary.
On Wednesday, thoughts were focused on clean-up and rebuilding.
"Well, we're going to plant another one," Dick Houck said of his tree.
Most of the trees knocked down Tuesday night near Roseville were weakened and diseased. Meanwhile, healthy trees and other objects, like antennas and shingles, were fine.
After consulting with the National Weather Service, our estimate is that winds in the area were actually less than 60 mph, meaning these storms weren't even technically severe, even though they were dangerous.