Tornado Misses Hillsboro; Town Doesn’t Escape Damaging Winds

Straight-line winds blow down trees and damage buildings in the city; a tornado passes by just three miles to the northeast

HILLSBORO, ND — A tornado went through Traill County, just missing Hillsboro, but the town didn’t escape damaging winds.  People in Hillsboro spent the day picking up the pieces.

The sound of chainsaws could be heard all across Hillsboro.  A powerful storm rumbled across Traill County, blowing down trees, damaging homes and spawning a tornado.

“When we rolled into town last night, you couldn’t navigate the streets,” said Traill County Sheriff Steven Hunt.  “I mean there were trees down across every street you tried to turn down.  It took a while to clear the roads so we could move around in town and assess what damage we had.  We were very fortunate that everything was limited to property damage.”

Volunteers arrived from all over the region to clean up the town.

“I’m just helping out people who needed cleaning up.  I mean there’s a lot of trees that need picking up and people can’t help themselves and we just kind of help them out,” said Cass Pederson, a volunteer with CHS.

The effects of the storm weren’t limited to the trees.  Buildings and homes were also damaged.

“Today, we’re having to re–shingle our twin homes and we had some damage that basically ripped the plywood off … we’ve got shingles missing everywhere,” said Cass Abentroth of Caledonia.

The tornado took a path just three miles northeast of the city of Hillsboro.  Casey was visiting with family in Hillsboro, when the severe weather caught him by surprise.

“All of sudden, we were sitting in the front and then the wind – the rain was going one direction and then started going back the other direction – and that was the time – and something flew in front of the door – and it was time to get into the basement,” said Abentroth.

The storm left its mark on Hillsboro but authorities say life will get back to normal soon.

“It’s going to take a couple of days no question about it.  We got a good jump on it today,”  said Hunt.

According to the National Weather Service, the damage seen in Hillsboro was caused by straight line winds.