Elk farmer Roger Rogotzke said he was in his house at about 6 p.m. when hail began to fall.

“I quick drove the car in the garage. Wind-driven rain came down so hard, I couldn’t see about 100 yards across the field. I saw big trees swaying back and forth. It was raining sideways. The wind was really loud. Looking east, I saw a bunch of trees and branches blown down. I saw rolled up pieces of a metal shed near my driveway. We got more than two inches of rain in about 20 minutes. I saw large pieces of rolled up metal near by driveway,” he said.

Rogotzke said he quickly got his chainsaw, hammer and some other tools to begin cutting up fallen trees and repairing elk pasture fencing.

A good friend, Gibbon Fairfax Winthrop (GFW) student-athletic Matthew Lee of Fairfax drove out to help with reattaching fencing to fence posts.

Two to 4 inches of rain, standing water in fields and downed trees and large branches were reported in the Fairfax area Monday.

Heavy rain was reported in Sleepy Eye.

The National Weather Service reported wind gusts of 58 mphin New Ulm knocked down a number of large trees. A large tree trunk snapped near the ground near German and 3rd South.

Trees were uprooted in Milford Township.

Brown County Highway Engineer Andrew Lang said his crew was busy clearing debris from county roads Tuesday.

Staff photo by Fritz Busch Pieces of a shed wound up on Roger Rogotzke’s property just west of State Highway 4 Monday.

A report of brief cloud rotation and debris on the ground originated near 627th Avenue between St. George and Gibbon.

At 7 p.m. Monday, the National Weather Service (NWS) reported Doppler radar showed a strong line of thunderstorms from 6 miles northwest of Sleepy Eye to near Lafayette, or extending 16 miles west of New Ulm to 10 miles northeast of New Ulm with wind gusts up to 50 mph.

A Brown County Special Weather Statement listed impacted locations including New Ulm, Sleepy Eye, Gaylord, Springfield, Winthrop, Nicollet, Courtland, Lafayette, New Sweden, Evan, Cobden, St. George, New Ulm Airport, Essig, Klossner, Flandrau and Fort Ridgely State Parks.

Pea-sized hail was reported near 10th St. North and Minnesota Street in New Ulm.

A tornado was spotted above the ground from the north end of Nicollet at 6:40 p.m. Monday.