GRAND FORKS (AP) -- Residents in the Dakotas are cleaning up after tornadoes, strong winds and heavy rain swept through the states, leaving a trail of destroyed buildings and flooding in their wake.
A storm system that brought deadly tornadoes to Minnesota on Thursday also spawned twisters on the North Dakota side of the Red River. No injuries or deaths were reported.
Nancy Barner said she feels lucky to be alive after a shop was destroyed about 20 feet from where she was standing in a small subdivision west of Grand Forks.
Owen Dahl and his wife, Debbie, lost their welding business, home, three sheds and a car when a tornado ripped through their property outside Northwood.
"We're just glad Debbie and I are safe because we should have been killed," Owen Dahl said.
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"It was hard to watch, yet it was fascinating at the same time," he said. "The power was unbelievable and awesome to watch. I was amazed how it tore through everything."
Al Voelker, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Grand Forks, said tornadoes are not uncommon in the Red River Valley but that the size of Thursday's storm made it stand out.
"There's a couple of us that have got about 30 years in the weather service and the only one we can think of that was somewhat of a similar situation was in 1999," he said, referring to a June 6 outbreak of 10 tornadoes that tore up homes in the town of Mountain and caused damage in several counties on both sides of the Red River.
Recovery continues in the south central South Dakota town of Dupree, where tornadoes or high winds hit the town late Wednesday, damaging or destroying numerous buildings and homes and injuring two men.
"I could see three (tornadoes) coming, so then we could hear this howling and my husband said, 'It's time to get to the basement,"' lifelong resident Judy Stout said. "I came back upstairs, part of the living room roof was gone. The bedroom roof was gone and the sliding glass door was laying in the living
room."
Heavy rain throughout North Dakota and South Dakota led to flash flooding in urban and rural areas, including the North Dakota cities of West Fargo and Minot. State Highway 52 southeast of Minot still had standing water Friday morning, and the state Transportation Department was encouraging drivers to slow down.
In northeastern South Dakota, power was restored late Thursday to several hundred NorthWestern Energy customers who were put in the dark by strong winds that downed electrical lines.
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Thousands of homes in southwest North Dakota also lost power for several hours Thursday, and strong winds damaged buildings, trees and a vehicle in Adams County.
McKenzie County Emergency Manager Jerry Samuelson said he received a number of calls from people wondering where they could take shelter.
"We have a lot of oil field workers living in campers and trailer houses," he said.
