Hail hits Wabasha County
By Janet Kubat Willette
jkubat@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 05/21/2012 1:34 PM
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WABASHA, Minn. — Hail remained feet deep in ditches Thursday afternoon following a storm that moved through Wabasha County after 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Lisa Moyer, a program technican with the Wabasha County Farm Service Agency, spent Thursday collecting data and photos for a disaster report.
"I have never seen anything like this in my life," she said, describing hail 10 feet to 15 feet deep in ditches.
Residue flowed off fields on beds of hail, piling up in road ditches. Siding and roofs were destroyed by the golf-ball sized hail. Up to 5 inches of rain was reported in some areas.
Moyer, who lives between Wabasha County Road 9 and Wabasha County Road 2, said she received four and half to five inches of rain. The rain guage didn't catch everything because some of the precipitation blew sideways, she said.
Two miles over, a neighbor received eight tenths an inch of rain.
Reports in Lake City varied from two and a half inches to five inches, she said, depending on what part of town a person was in.
Kellogg reported high winds and a possible tornado.
The worst damage in the county appears to be concentrated between County Road 9 and Highway 63, Moyer said.
The information Moyer gathered will be submitted to the state FSA office to determine if the county qualifies for disaster assistance.