Heavy damage but no deaths in latest round of Midwest severe storms

A trail of damaged homes and buildings dotted a wide swath of the upper Midwest on Saturday after a burst of destructive winds and reported tornadoes tore off roofs, uprooted trees and rendered rural roads impassable with debris.

No deaths were reported following Friday’s storms, which delivered the latest round of severe weather to batter the region. Officials braced residents for a long recovery in some rural communities.

Heaviest hit areas include the community of Lena, Illinois, the central Wisconsin, the cities of Kronenwetter and Ringle, and Olmsted County, Minnesota.

Friday's outbreak was another round attributed to a weeklong weather pattern combining very moist air with a strong jet stream from as far south as central Texas into the Midwest and east across the Great Lakes. From Monday through Wednesday, the National Weather Service received more than 1,100 reports of large hail, winds above 60 mph and tornadoes as part of the storm system.


(AP Photo Holly Bennet Piotrowicz)