St. Paul Neighborhood Cleaning Up After Sunday's Storms
ST. PAUL (WCCO) -- Clean-up continued Monday in the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul. A quick moving storm with strong winds brought down trees and power lines along several blocks.
"A mess, to say the least," said Micheal Raketich, who lives in Highland Park.
Micheal Raketich may be away from the office, but he certainly has his work cut out for him. An old pine tree in his yard was no match for 60 mile per hour wind gusts.
"I thought a bomb went off in my yard, around 9:00, last night. I looked and saw the tree was down and saw sparks coming from the power line," said Raketich.
Lucky for him, the other tree in his yard did withstand the storm and broke the fall of the tall pine.
"If this big tree wasn't here, my house would have been ruined. My car would have been totaled," said Raketich.
Just down the road, WCCO's Angela Davis wasn't so fortunate. When Sunday's storm started taking down trees throughout the Highland Park area, her husband's car got the worst of it. A tree fell on the hood of the SUV and blocked the roadway.
"I feel bad because my husband just had some major repair work done. He just had a new transmission put in a few months ago and we were going to drive it for several more years," said Angela Davis whose car was damaged in the storm.
Bill Stein had his camera ready as soon as the wind died down. He captured several blocks of damage in Highland Park.
"It was hit and miss. One street looked normal, the other street had branches trees down and debris strewn all over. It's bizarre," said Stein.
In some areas around the state, wind gusts reached up to 75 miles per hour, which is hurricane strength wind.
