ANDOVER, Minn. — The National Weather Service's Twin Cities bureau confirmed Thursday night's severe weather conjured up tornadoes in Dakota, Anoka and Isanti Counties, causing "quite a bit of damage" in some areas.
The agency posted a photo to X Friday morning depicting tree damage just north of Andover.
A crew from Carr's Tree Service happened to be working on Bluebird Street NW on Thursday when the tornado rolled through.
“We were right here hooking up a trailer, and all of a sudden it just came down around us," said Mike Munnelly of Carr's Tree Service. “Usually are main thing is be out of the drop zone, and with this it was any tree could go at any time, and we are in the drop zone.”
Roger Virchow, who has been in the tree service business for 21 years said this damage topped them all. “Never seen anything like it, It was that bad," Virchow said. "It almost seemed like a battle zone, it was like somebody just laid waste to this whole area."
A resident KARE 11 spoke with who lives on the street said her home and pool were undamaged, but that she and her husband moved to the street eight years ago because of the beautiful tree coverage and almost all of the trees were ripped out of their front yard by the storm.
NWS later confirmed an EF-1 tornado in Isanti County on Thursday night, though the agency is still working to confirm the length of its path.
A third tornado, an EF-0, was also confirmed just south of Hastings where dozens of trees were downed, including 40-50 on Bellwood Oaks Golf Course, according to one of the course owners.
NWS has crews surveying the damage to determine the tornadoes' official path, length and rating.
But these weren't the only communities hit with strong winds, thunderstorms, flooding and possible tornados Thursday evening. Before severe storms rocked communities like Cottage Grove and Isanti in Minnesota, western Wisconsin's Pierce, Dunn and St. Croix Counties also got hit hard. The NWS said crews would also survey that area to determine whether a tornado occurred.
Following the brunt of the storm, KARE 11 spoke with Pete Brescancini, an Isanti County homeowner, who said he came back from running errands to find trees that had fallen through the walls of his bathroom, laundry room and kitchen. Brescancini said that although his home and yard were devastated, he's thankful his dog and Harley made it through the storm unscathed.
"You can't be mad, it's just gonna have to get cleaned up and repaired," he said.
Isanti County Commissioner Todd Christensen told KARE the storm "literally sounded like a freight train."
In the city of Cottage Grove, located in Washington County, the mayor declared a state of emergency Friday morning due to widespread damage.
The storm also left thousands more without power across the Twin Cities metro and forced Minnesota State Fair-goers to seek shelter at the fairgrounds.
