A powerful thunderstorm hit New Ulm after 11 p.m. Thursday. The New Ulm Airport registered wind speeds of 24 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. By Friday morning, leaves, branches and debris were scattered across New Ulm streets. Multiple trees came down during the storm.

The Street Department was hard at work on Friday removing branches and fallen trees from the public right-of-way.

Assistant Public Works Superintendent Nate Osborne said crews came in around midnight after the storm hit. By 3 a.m. they began removing debris from the roads to make them passable. By mid-morning the crews were back on the street removing what was left of the fallen trees and branches.

Some residents took matters into their own hands. Early Friday morning, Jean Wenk was cutting away branches from a fallen tree near 3rd N. and West St. with an electric chainsaw.

The Street Department cleans up fallen trees on 6th North near Garden Street. This was one of several location in New Ulm with downed trees from the previous night’s storm.

Wenk said she heard the tree go down in the storm around midnight. She was only cutting away enough of the branches to unblock her driveway.

The total damage caused by the storm is unknown. Osborne could not hazard a guess at the number of public trees lost. There were likely many other trees down on private property.

Osborne said no single part of city was hit harder by the storm. Trees and branches were down throughout the town from 10th South to 10th North. Front, Center and Garden Street all had downed trees. An evergreen near Broadway Haus was uprooted, falling into another tree along the 3rd N. boulevard.

“We definitely needed the rain, but we didn’t need the wind,” Osborne said.

A large part of a tree near 3rd North and West Street broke off around midnight blocking a driveway.

A tree limb narrowly missed landing on the South German Park Sign at the corner of 7th South.