F3 Tornado — Otter Tail, Minnesota

2001-06-13 · near Parkers Prairie, Otter Tail, Minnesota

Event narrative

The tornado caused quite a bit of damage along its path across southeast Otter Tail county before it crossed into Todd county. At one farmstead, 9 people huddled inside a house with no basement as its roof was torn off. Nobody was injured, but another trailer home nearby was completely destroyed. Many irrigation systems were overturned, trees, power poles, and lines snapped, and grain bins destroyed by the strong wind. An estimated 100 poles were broken off leaving nearly 1,100 people without power. At another farm, a 40x80 foot pole barn was wrecked. About 6 miles northeast of Parkers Prairie, a man and his two kids rode out the storm in their minivan inside a quonset. Trees all around them and the quonset were crumpled by the wind, yet they survived. Another farmstead lost a house, trailer home, and two silos. A turkey barn containing 12,000 turkeys was also hit, with an estimated 60 percent of the turkeys perishing.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (45.8000, -96.1500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5251495. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.