Linda Wallin, Mayor of tornado stricken small town of Comfrey, MN, hands out Small Business Adminstration check for owners whose stores were damaged by the March 29th tornado.Mayor Wallin, along with the Small Business Adminstration District Director, handed out disaster checks to Comfrey residents severely impacted by last week's tornado... the event took place at the Sleepy Eye High School gym in Sleepy Eye, MN.The mayor said she's happy to see so many people willing to stay in town and help rebuild.Damage estimates are in excess of 200-million dollars.end.

<p><b>Supers/Fonts: </b></p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>Story Location: </b> Comrey</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>State/Province: </b> Minnesota</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>Shot Date: </b> 05/14/2023</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>URL: </b> https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/flooding-forces-evacuations-in-southern-mn/89-5d2acb59-7e3f-4342-8c7b-8efead742cbf</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>Notes and Restrictions: </b></p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>Newsource Notes: </b></p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>Story Description: </b></p>\n<p>Elements: PKG: of flooded roads; and pump; o of sandbagging; sots with resident - (no font) sots with farmer Bob Vierkamp;</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>Wire/StoryDescription:</p>\n<p>COMFREY, Minn. Residents of a small town in southern Minnesota were forced to leave their homes after continuous rain led to flooding.</p>\n<p>Many residents of Comfrey, Minnesota spent Sunday trying to minimize the damage from the flooding before evacuating. </p>\n<p></p>\n<p>Station Notes/Scripts:</p>\n<p>COMFREY FLOODING-PKG</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>[item]ELC PKG FADE[/item]</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>[item]COMFREY FLOODING-PKG_KARE-HPZBKG6-01_20230514_214911.mxf[/item]</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>[item]X1 | L3_Main | - | RESIDENTS FORCED TO EVACUATE AFTER FLOODING | COMFREY[/item][TAKE SOT]</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>{***SOT FULL***}</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>16:11:00</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>"We've had about nine, nine and-a-half inches here."</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>Steams of flood water</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>*nat pop*</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>and sounds of pumps.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>*nat pop*</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>[TAKE SOT]</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>{***SOT FULL***}16:11:07</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>"There's spots down there where its about 2 ½ feet deep. If not 3."</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>This small town of roughly 300 people.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>[TAKE SOT]</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>{***SOT FULL***}</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>16:12:22</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>"The apartments are underwater."</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>Is trying to keep it's head above water.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>[TAKE SOT]</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>{***SOT FULL***}16:30:09</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>[TAKE SOT]</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>{***SOT FULL***}16:12:01</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>I've never seen anything like this Other people in town said it flooded real bad in '93 but they thought they had the problem solved.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>the worst flooding in three decades.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>Bob Vierkamp</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>just planted his crops and this water...</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>[TAKE SOT] </p>\n<p></p>\n<p>{***SOT FULL***}</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>16:11:31</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>It was all planted a week ago "</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>it's overwhelming.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>"and now its underwater. The whole crop."</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>[TAKE SOT] </p>\n<p></p>\n<p>{***SOT FULL***}16:11:38</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>"It's gonna devastate the farmers, its gonna devastate the whole community."</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>This community has witnessed loss at the hands of mother nature before.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>[TAKE SOT] </p>\n<p></p>\n<p>{***SOT FULL***}16:10:50</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>"This is not common in Comfrey, this is a devastation again just like the tornado."</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>but no task -- is ever TOO BIG for this SMALL TOWN.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p></p>\n<p>[TAKE SOT]</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>{***SOT FULL***}16:14:52</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>"and we have for the hope church."</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--SUPERS</b>--</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--VIDEO SHOWS</b>--</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--VO SCRIPT</b>--</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--LEAD IN</b>--</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--SOT</b>--</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--TAG</b>--</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--REPORTER PKG-AS FOLLOWS</b>--</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>-----END-----CNN.SCRIPT-----</b></p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--KEYWORD TAGS--</b></p>\n<p></p>

A panning crane shot of a late fall cornfield, moving with the wind, which will be harvested later this day.

St. Peter, Minnesota isn't the only place feeling the pain of mother nature's wrath. The nearby town of Comfrey was also hit hard. Bob McNaney is there and has this report.TAKE PKG--- end ---

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the tornado that ravaged St Peter Comfrey, MN.

An elevated panning shot of a late fall cornfield, moving with the wind, which is in the process of being harvested.

COMFREY, MN SCHOOL DAMAGED BY MARCH 1998 TORNADO REOPENS TODAY.

Green tall prairie grass sway in the blowing wind

Mother Nature can be cruel at times... a lesson learned last year by those in Grand Forks, North Dakota and one being realized right now by those in Tornado stricken Minnesota.Rain and near freezing temperatures are making clean-up difficult, if not impossible.As Bob McNaney reports, Mother Nature is proving too much for the people of Comfrey.

Wind blows snow over snow drift, Minnesota, USA ( NBRD358N - ABGA427R )

An autumn cornfield, shot from above, backlit with the setting sun.
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A SCHOOL IN COMFREY, DESTROYED BY TORNADO, HAS BEEN RE-OPENED.

A 400 megawatt natural gas fired turbine peaking power plant located at the edge of an industrial wind farm (right), with substation to the left. This facility is operated on an as needed basis to supply electricity to 30,000 homes and businesses. On hot summer or cold winter days the turbines can be started quickly to meet peak power demands. This plant operates very efficiently with very low emissions. Both renewable and conventional sources of energy production are depicted in this clip.

FEMA Director James Lee Witt, MN Senator Rod Grams and other lawmakers toured tornado ravaged south central Minnesota today. FEMA personnel have been in the are most of the week, assessing the damage, but today Witt himself toured what's left of Comfrey and St. Peter. He's already promised trailers for people to live in and says aid applications will be processed as quickly as possible.

Fall corn stalks are moving with the wind. Looking across the top of the field to a horizon with trees.

The rain has stopped, but the wind and cold are still making it tough to clean up St. Peter, Comfrey, Lonsdale and other places hit by Sunday's tornado. Among the schools damaged by the storm is Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter. Thankfully, most students were away from campus on spring break. The storm knocked out all the windows in the dorms, downed most of the trees and damaged nearly every building on campus. Some seniors who were still around the campus are sad to think they may not finish their final weeks.SOTBus loads of former students will be brought in this weekend to help with the massive clean-up project. Already heavy machinery is on campus to help remove trees and debris.--- end --

Plants growing on field by lake in foggy weather

A panning crane shot of a late fall cornfield, moving with the wind, which will be harvested later this day.

A crane shot starts off at the top of corn stalks in a fall cornfield. As the crane rises a portion of the field on the left is harvested and a combine is unloading corn into a semi trailer near the horizon.

A panning crane aerial shot of a fall cornfield near sunset with lens flare.
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