USE YOUR BACK BUTTON TO RETURN TO THIS PAGE AFTER VIEWING PICTURES Pic1: Picture of a residence in Saint Peter. The walls are either bent or completely taken off. Pic2: This picture shows the foundation of a house, but the house is missing. The shed in the back did not fare well either. Pic3: Another house with the top floor completely missing. Pic4: View of some of the houses at Pine Pointe on the SW edge of town. These houses faced the first wrath of the tornados. Pic5: The fairly-new Recreation Center in town. The part of the bldg in ruins is where the community would gather for Volleyball, Basketball and other activities. There was supposed to be Volleyball pickup games on that day, but had been called off. Pic6a, Pic6b: A closer view of the Recreation Center. You can barely see the gym scoreboard - it is the black square on the far middle wall. Pic6b was taken two weeks later and is a pull-back shot of the complex showing the Rec Center on the left and the Arts & Heritage building on the right (Pic12 below). Pic7a, Pic7b: Pic7a struck at the very heart of what had happened to the beautiful trees in Saint Peter. On the left are all the trees that had been felled by the winds. In the middle is a huge wood chipper and to the right is piles of wood chips - what remains of the trees now. To give you an idea, the entire area filled with trees was 2 blocks wide! Pic7b was taken from almost the same location about 3 weeks later. All you see is mulch! Pic8: Law Enforcement Agencies from around Minnesota and neighboring states pitched in to help the Saint Peter Police Department in their duties. Here a squad mans a roadblock on the SW edge of town. In the background is Gustavus Adolphus College. Pic9: It took two squads to man the intersection of US Hwy 169 and College Avenue to ensure the safety of volunteers and traffic. Labelled in the picture are: 1) Johnson Hall dorm, 2)Christ Chapel and 3)Old Main, all on the Gustavus campus. Previously, only the chapel steeple (now missing) and the clock tower on Old Main (in white) were visible. Now you can see it all. Pic10a, Pic10b, Pic10c, Pic10d: These are all different views of the 100+ year old Catholic Church in St. Peter. You can see right through the church! All the handpainted stain glass windows were blown out. Pic 10d was taken 2 weeks later. Pic11a, Pic11b: A view of the German Church in St. Peter which sustained roof damaged. Compared to the church in the above picture, it fared much better. Pic 11b was taken 2 weeks later. Pic12a, Pic12b: A view of the Arts and Heritage building in Saint Peter. It is rumored that this beautiful building will have to be torn down. Pic12b was taken two weeks later. I am not sure if this building stands anymore since the cost to rebuild it was very high! Pic13: Utility crews work in the background to restore power and phone services to the city, while rubble is visible in the foreground. Pic14a, Pic14b: As you leave Saint Peter, heading North on US Highway, you can't help but notice the final work of the tornado as it left the city. Broken trees and debris caught in the trees line the highway. Pic15a, Pic15b: For those who have been to St. Peter, this picture needs no explanation. For those who have not, Pic15a is a view of the City from the High School. A view once covered with beautiful trees and very few houses visible is now barren of most trees and the blue you see on houses is tarps covering torn or crumpled roofs. In the foreground are cars that were damaged and had to be towed to this parking lot for storage. Pic15b is taken from almost the same spot (actually from the road between the parking lot and the hill). You can still see some tarped roofs but not as many as in Pic15a. Pic16: A house with no roof and a major portion of the upper floor missing. Can you imagine coming out of the basement to this?? Pic17: What remains of a beautiful house at Pine Pointe -- the area of first impact of the tornado when it hit St. Peter. This photo was taken two weeks after the storm. [ Tornado Home | My Home ]