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‘Highway littered with debris’

Storm spotter recalls 1998 tornado

File photo Much of downtown Comfrey was heavily damaged by the March 1998 tornado, as shown in this aerial photo.

NEW ULM — Brown County Planning and Zoning Administrator and Storm Spotter Laine Sletta was on his way out to his usual weather spotting position on March 29, 1998, near CR 22 and CR 13, four miles north of Hanska, after a tornado demolished much of Comfrey and the home of his parents Orris and Arlys Sletta, in Section 3, Lake Hanska Township.

“They were in the house, under a basement stairway, when the house was lifted from the foundation,” Sletta said. “My dad said he saw daylight between the house and foundation when it was lifted up when he was in the basement with my mom. They said there was a lot of wind and stuff flying around, a huge roar. They had very minor injuries. Their house and my brother Landon’s house, just east of there, were destroyed.”

Laine described his road trip to New Ulm.

“The highway was littered with debris. Power lines were down, some on the road. I figured they were all dead because there wasn’t any arching. It took me 45 minutes to get to New Ulm instead of the usual 15 minutes,” said Sletta. “After I made sure my parents and brother were ok, I went to Comfrey. It was a mess. A church steeple was laying on the ground upside down. It was horrific.”

Sletta said he met with Comfrey Mayor Linda Wallin, regional emergency management staff and Richard Mathiowetz of Mathiowetz Construction, the lead contractor in the response.

The map below displays the path of the storm.

“Everybody worked under the direction of Richard and Brian (Mathiowetz) because due to the amount of destruction, we couldn’t do it by ourselves,” said Sletta. “It was a long response to that disaster. The Friends of Brown County helped clean farm fields of debris. The American Red Cross and Salvation Army brought food to farm places that were hit. I’m sure there were other relief agencies.”

Sletta said the Friends of Brown County included business people and teachers that got together to help respond to the tornado.

“We were very fortunate there were relatively few injuries. Schools were not in session,” said Sletta. “It was a big one. The biggest tornado we’ve had. It was a wedge tornado, very wide. There was a lot of s–t that happened.”

The National Weather Service (NWS) said 13 tornados occurred in Minnesota on March 29, 1998, along a path from about 25 miles east of the South Dakota line. The first tornado touched down at 3:23 p.m. near Lismore in Nobles County.

Five more tornadoes briefly followed in Nobles and southern Murray Counties. North of Fulda, an F4 tornado was on the ground for 77 minutes and tracked 67 miles through several counties, to just west of Nicollet, causing major damage to farms, homes and the City of Comfrey.

As the tornado dissipated just west of Nicollet, a new tornado formed just east of Nicollet and went on to hit St. Peter very hard, knocking down many trees and damaging buildings. Other tornadoes caused significant damage in Le Center, Lonsdale and near Castle Rock. The last tornado was on the ground for just one mile, dissipating five miles southwest of Hastings at 6:48 p.m. A 14th tornado touched down just west of Wabasha. It was rated F0.

Massive hail accompanied the storm, with golf ball to baseball size hail common. The largest hail stone, 4.5 inches in diameter, fell in Courtland.

Twenty-one people were injured and two people were killed by the tornadoes, Louis Mosenden, 85, near Lake Hanska; and Dustin Schneider, 6, near St. Peter. The tornadoes caused more than $235 million in damage, mostly by the F4 tornado that hit Comfrey, an F3 that hit St. Peter and an F2 that hit Le Center.

More than 1,700 homes were significantly damaged from 150-mile-an-hour winds that swept through St. Peter,

The March 29, 1998 storms also produced two tornados in Wisconsin.

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