By Lori EhdeA violent thunderstorm ripped through Rock County at noon Tuesday, leaving downed trees, damaged property and power outages in its wake.State Highway Department snowplows cleared initial paths through fallen debris on major roadways. Similarly, county and city crews were busy well into the evening Tuesday, clearing fallen trees and branches from the streets."The cooperation was excellent," said Sheriff Mike Winkels. "The guys from the county shop came over right away to see if the city needed anything. They basically divided up the city and said ‘You go here, we’ll go there, and we’ll meet in the middle.’ That’s basically what they did."Wind speeds reached more than 80 mph at times, and nearly two inches of rain fell in less than 30 minutes causing urban flooding in some places.Within the city limits of Luverne, barely a city block was left untouched. Residents reported trees had fallen through buildings and on vehicles, and winds ripped off rooftops and blew out garage doors.Winkels said he was glad to see the spirit of cooperation among residents as well."A lot of people are out helping other people. Neighbors helping neighbors," he said. "I saw it going on all over. It was just tremendous."Shoppers in Pamida were herded to different parts of the store while the roof caved in, and then they had to evacuate for a propane leak.Terri Bruynes, Luverne, said she had to leave her cart full of products in the aisle when the storm hit."The lights flickered, and then went out totally, so everyone came to the front of the store," she said. "Then the manager and pharmacists said we should really be by the bathrooms, so we all moved over there."Moments later, she said parts of the ceiling came down by the health and beauty department. "I could see stuff blowing in," Bruynes said.About that time, the pharmacists announced everyone had to leave the building because of a propane leak."So we all went to our cars, but the Pamida sign had wrapped around the pole, and parts of it were flying around the parking lot," she said. "But we couldn’t leave the parking lot because two storage sheds had collapsed and landed in the driveway."So shoppers and employees waited out the storm in their vehicles."It was rocking my car really good," she said. "I was stuck there in my car, wondering if I should go back in the store and breathe propane, or if I should I sit in the parking lot and wait for pieces of the sign to hit my car."When she was able to leave the parking lot, Bruynes said she couldn’t get to her house on West Warren Street because side streets were blocked. When she finally did get home, she discovered a large tree had fallen on her house."The whole tree is covering my house – one whole side of it," she said Tuesday night. "We won’t even know how much damage we have until we move the tree."Power outagesAccording to Rick Hoftiezer, supervisor with Missouri River Energy Services, most of Luverne experienced flickering power outages during the storm. These, he said were caused by "galloping" lines.Other parts of Luverne, for example, were out of power for longer periods of time, due to structural damage to lines.At the airport, a hangar that blew apart fell onto a three-phase power line there, and on West Hatting Street, tree branches were hung up in power lines. Residents served in those neighborhoods, plus the ethanol plant, saw outages lasting up to two or more hours.The trailer park south of town was still in the dark as of 5 p.m. Tuesday. "They had some major damage there," Hoftiezer said. Much of that damage, he said, was to private lines that would need repair before the supply could be turned back on.The cities of Hills, Steen and Beaver Creek, which are served by Alliant energy, were without power until 5:25 p.m. Tuesday, due to six downed poles on transmission lines.Cleanup processCity and county crews spent much of the afternoon and evening clearing streets of tree branches and debris for traffic.The rest of the week will be a systematic process of clearing boulevards as residents dig out, according to Rock County Emergency Management Coordinator Kyle Oldre."People are getting their debris — strictly vegetation — to the boulevard, and we’ll pick it up for them," Oldre said.He said crews from the city of Marshall public works department are helping Rock County and City of Luverne crews with the process.To illustrate the magnitude of cleanup, it took 30 truck loads to clear three city blocks along Blue Mound Avenue Tuesday.Oldre said that people need to pay close attention to public service announcements during the next week for instructions.For example, residents must not put demolition debris on the boulevard with their downed branches for public pickup."If they do have demolition that must go to the landfill," Oldre said. "It all has to be separated from the vegetation."The landfill will accept insulation, particle board, roofing, shingles, Sheetrock, Vinyl siding, wood, metal siding and metal roofing at the current rate of $14 per ton. It must be separated from solid waste materials.Landfill hours are 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday for the duration of storm cleanup in Luverne.Rock County Highway Engineer Mark Sehr can answer questions at 283-5010.City and county crews have a permit from the state to temporarily haul trees and branches to the Henning gravel pit northeast of Luverne, but that location is not open to the public. "That way our guys can get in and out of there with their big trucks without worrying about residents bringing their loads of sticks."He also warned residents to use caution during cleanup. "As people transport their own debris, don’t create a new hazard by hauling it," he said. "Already we’re seeing people stuffing branches into pickups and driving away while people are ducking and dodging branches that are sticking out. … People need to secure their loads."Many storms, many communitiesOldre said he sent figures to the Minnesota Division of Emergency Management with rough estimates of storm damage in Rock County — particularly Beaver Creek and Luverne.For the two cities, there was no damage considered "severe." Twenty percent of the two communities had "moderate" damage, such as trees fallen through roofs or into buildings. Forty percent of the towns received "minimum" damage, such as damage to shingles and siding."These are all rough estimates," he emphasized.Oldre said the state gathers information about storm damage caused by a series of summer storms in many communities in a region.If total damages add up, state and federal resources may be allocated.Tuesday’s storm alone affected Beaver Creek, Luverne, Adrian and Worthington, in southwest Minnesota, in addition to several communities in South Dakota.The storm started in central South Dakota and followed an eastward path along Interstate 90, according to Bill Behrend, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, Sioux Falls.He said wind speeds of up to 100 mph were reported in some communities in its path, which spanned about 50 miles wide. As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, he said the storm was continuing its eastward journey and hadn’t lost strength.Oldre said warning sirens were sounded in Luverne, even though most residents were already indoors and didn’t hear them over the howling wind.He said the purpose of the sirens in a storm is to warn people outdoors to seek shelter, and since it was raining, most people were indoors already when the sirens went off.Cornfields flattenedTravis Van Santen of New Vision co-op, Beaver Creek, said it’s too early to assess crop damage, but he said, "I can assess it for you," he said. "It’s flat. You should see it out here."Damage to cornfields is particularly dramatic, as six-foot, tasseled stalks are now laying on the ground in many area fields.If the wind damage wasn’t enough, Van Santen said fields north of Beaver Creek took an additional beating from a freak accident in the storm.In the area of the wind tower construction north of Beaver Creek, several 30-foot-long steel culverts, about 18 feet in diameter, were on site, about to be put in the ground to be filled with concrete. Van Santen said they rolled through the fields for about a mile and a half, jumping the highway. "You can see the path they took diagonally through the cornfields," he said.Beaver Creek damageHe said the co-op property in Beaver Creek was damaged extensively in the storm. "The two elevators you used to be able to see along Old 16 … you can’t see them anymore," he said. The two structures, with a capacity of 150,000 bushels apiece, went down, in addition to a grain leg nearly 100 feet tall.One of the elevators, stopped by a 40-foot high tree, came to rest within feet of the home of Al Hoffcamp.The tree, although snapped off, was strong enough to keep the elevator from rolling over Hoffcamp’s house. "I heard a noise and looked out the window and wondered, ‘What is blocking my view,’" Hoffcamp said. The elevators toppled a propane tank, took down power lines and narrowly missed the new city building. The downed wires were still live as of late Tuesday afternoon. Also, Van Santen said overhead doors blew out of chemical shed on the property. See the storm photo gallery for other storm pictures.