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Storm ravages crops, down trees, damages property

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By
Mavis Fodness

Several storm systems over southwest Minnesota Saturday resulted in severe weather that downed trees, flattened crops and damaged property.
Some areas of the county were affected worse than others by the storm, which mustered wind gusts up to 70 mph in some areas.
But stories were similar in Luverne, Hardwick and other communities — of downed trees and some damage to vehicles and buildings.
 
Crop damage
The more serious losses were reported in area cornfields — just recovering from wet planting — and now lay broken in the rows.
Because they were planted late and grew quickly, stalks are brittle with shallow roots and many fields were susceptible to “green snap,” from stiff winds that break off the stalks at the joint just below the ear.
“So it can’t grow and you can’t harvest it,” said Barb Anderson of Cattnach Insurance, one of dozens of crop insurance offices in the area fielding calls from clients.
Shirley Top with Kozlowski Insurance said some farmers saw 90 percent losses in fields due to green snap after Saturday’s storm.
“It’s different than when the wind just pushes it over and it can sometimes come back,” Top said. “This isn’t coming back; the stalks are severed.”
Anderson said she’s been consulting with many of her clients, and she’s hearing similar reports. “Lots of wind, some hail, lots of damage,” she said.
Anderson said crop insurance exists as a safety net for producers, but ultimately it’s better to have a crop to sell than to settle for an insurance payment.
“It definitely takes the profitability out, because the most you can expect to get back is your crop insurance guarantee,” Anderson said.
“It’s designed to cover your input costs, but we would always prefer a profit.”
After several years of losses, Anderson describes Saturday’s storm as “one more blow” to local farmers. “It takes that last little bit of hope away that you could have had a profitable crop,” she said.
Top agreed that it’s getting increasingly difficult for producers to see a bright side to this year’s growing season.
 “It’s not good,” she said, reflecting on recent farming losses. “Some of these guys haven’t had a crop in three years. … They’re beside themselves.”
Farmers will recoup some losses through crop insurance, but Anderson and Top said it will be another year of negative profit margins.
“Farmers persevered through the mud when they could have gone the prevent-plant route planting later than normal. Farmers are hopeful due to the large area affected by excess moisture they will get rewarded for their work harvesting bushels at higher prices,” Top said.
“The area affected with excess moisture is much bigger than in 1993. After Saturday’s storm they now look at damaged fields knowing harvest will be a challenge, too, trying to harvest down corn, and bushels will be less. It’s horrible.”
 Ag advisers are telling farmers to be aware of additional concerns, such as nitrogen loss and weed control, stemming from continually saturated soil.
 
Property damage,
tree cleanup
In Hardwick heavy equipment was required to move downed trees that were blocking traffic in major thoroughfares.
City clerk Tammy Johnson said a large tree fell over County Road 7 near the elevator, and no one was able to get into or out of town on that side of Hardwick.
“The county crew was there immediately to move the tree to the side of the road, and this morning they had several trucks and a pretty big crew cleaning it up,” Johnson said Monday.
“Thank goodness. … It might have been a bit much for our equipment and small maintenance staff.”
She said the church garage was damaged, as was another residential garage in the northwest part of town.
“A tree fell over on one of our driveway lights, and sparks were flying,” Johnson said.
She said the damage to property was generally minimal, but the storm mess created extra work.
“You could hear the buzzing of chainsaws Saturday and Sunday and there was a steady line up going to the tree dump,” Johnson said.
“Again, everyone came together and helped their neighbors. By last night the town looked pretty good.”
Saturday’s storm, which continues an already long streak of wet weather, dumped 7 inches in the Steen area last week.
In the first two weeks of July, some parts of the region received twice the normal rainfall for the whole month.

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