Barnum Cleans Up After Damaging Winds Knock Down Trees

Strong Severe Thunderstorms Thursday Evening Tore Through Minnesota Leaving Destruction In It's Path.

BARNUM, Minn – Thursday severe thunderstorms tore through the town of Barnum. Over 60 mph winds blew down trees onto homes, businesses and even the Carlton County Fairgrounds was damaged.

“We just braced ourselves because you know by that point you can’t even get to a building.” explained storm victim Jim Lunda of Barnum. “They claimed we had 70mph winds. It felt like 100mph. At certain times you couldn’t even hardly see out of the window at all, it was almost like a tornado.”

Lunda’s grandchild Anna Nguyn said, “The storm was really scary. I went into grandma’s bedroom and cuddled up under a blanket. It made me feel safer.”

Nickel to golf ball sized hail was reported with this storm, along with heavy downpours.

Sally Lunda explained, “The hail hit the windows for quite a long time, the kids were getting nervous. We started to worry that because we were being pelted that maybe the windows might smash.”

Being caught off guard by a strong severe storm, had the campers at Carlton County Fairground thankfully to be alive.

Lunda said, “The winds were so violent that the slide out was bouncing up and down and then it went away just that fast. It was crazy!”

Clean up began Thursday night and continued Friday afternoon as temperatures climbed into the 80’s with high humidity.

More severe storms are expected to rip through the Northland overnight Friday into Saturday. With those chances continuing throughout the weekend and even into next week.