Storms in Pennington County Leave Thief River Falls Picking Up the Pieces

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People in Thief River Falls are recovering after large hail and high winds toppled trees and scattered debris all over town.

KVRR’s Brittany Ford tells us just how long the clean up process will take.
 
That is what residents of Pennington County are saying as they pick up the pieces after Wednesday night’s severe thunder and wind storm.

The county experienced winds up to 80 miles per hour.

Most of the northeastern part of Thief River Falls saw damage.
 
“We’ve had cars that are crushed through the county. We still have roads throughout the county that still have large amounts of debris on them. People are obviously at different levels of their initial recovery,” says Erick Beitel, Pennington County Director of Emergency Services.
 
City officials issued a CODE RED alert at 8:45 Wednesday night urging people to stay indoors or get to a safe place.
 
Cautioning residents through TV and radio became not an option as 80mph winds bent the tower in half cutting off that line of communication for several hours.
 
Mayor Brian Holmer is in the processing of writing a localized State of Emergency plan for the city.
 
“Assessing the amount of funds and stuff that we’re going to have to pay out for that, and if we can reach a threshold at the county level of 25 thousand dollars then we can move forward to action to the state then,” says Mayor Holmer.
 
Power has been restored in some areas but more than 668 people have been without it since last night.
 
“It turned and came right at us. You never know it took and went. We lost power at the same time so we’re still without power now,” says resident Roger Delap.

City officials have begun the initial cleanup process but say it will take months.

Reporting in Thief River Falls Brittany Ford KVRR News.
 
City officials have confirmed that no one was hurt or injured.