Two powerful storms swept across the Annandale area within hours of each other Saturday, July 17, hitting it with a double whammy of large hail, then violent winds. The hail flattened some crops and dented cars and siding, and the winds toppled trees as well as temporary structures at Annandale’s triathlon, but the area appeared to have escaped more serious damage than that. The first storm struck about 4 p.m., pummeling some places with hail almost as big as baseballs. The second rolled in about 7:40 packing winds estimated at 50 mph or more. Between the two, they dropped about 1.5 inches of rain. Annandale Fire Chief Brian Haag said firefighters were called out as storm spotters both times and encountered no major damage. Hail from the afternoon storm was light in Annandale, he said, but in French Lake it was the size of golf balls. It was even bigger at West Lake Sylvia, according to Steve Wadman of Minnetonka. He was visiting his mother’s home there. He measured it at 31/2 inches wide, about the size of a baseball. "The yard was full of it," Wadman said. "It dinged up my car pretty bad," but he wasn’t aware of any damage to the house. "I’ve never seen the lake like that. It looked like it was boiling. It was a pretty amazing sight." Farther south, hail that was "between golf ball and baseball size" fell at Wayne Kasper’s place in French Lake Township about three miles northwest of Lantto’s Store. Beat up screens He managed to get the car in the garage, but the hail pounded the garden, left a couple of dents in the siding, "and some window screens are beat up pretty good," he said. "Considering the size of the hail, I thought it was pretty minor. "I never saw anything like it before." Wade Hoffman, who farms with his father, Larry, said golf ball-size hail hit an estimated 600 acres of their corn and soybeans east of French Lake. Some of the fields might have 40 percent damage and others only 5 or 10 percent, he said. Other crop damage occurred along County Road 38 southwest of Annandale, but the worst was southwest of county roads 37 and 5 in Albion Township, he said. "I think everybody got some" crop damage, Hoffman said, in the Annandale-French Lake-South Haven-Kimball area. 50 mph or more Haag estimated the second storm produced "gusts of 50 mph or better." The afternoon storm had tipped over the scaffolding that forms the finish line and timer’s stand for the Heart of the Lakes Triathlon on Sunday, July 18, in Annandale Municipal Park. Volunteers had put it back together only to see the second one pick it up and deposit it in a pile that Zane Schaefer said looked like a plane crash. The winds also flattened one of three tents in the athlete recovery area and damaged a second. Workers put the finish-line structure back together again and reassembled the recovery area using only two tents. Haag said firefighters responded when trees fell on power lines, one at County Road 6 and another along Highway 55 near Reimax/Integrity Realty in Annandale, but no fires occurred. Many tree branches were down after the storm, he said. Among them were trees on Cherry Avenue and West Harrison Street in Annandale and on Nevens Avenue south of Highway 55 near Lake John. A large branch landed on the roof of a house on Maple Avenue. Power outtage Leo Volkmann, who lives on Maple near the municipal park, said his power was out after the storm until about 9:35 p.m. along with other homes on Maple and Excelsior avenues between Park and Candlestick streets. Excel Energy told him 96 places were without power in Annandale after the storm, he said. David Burd of State Farm Insurance had received about 20 claims Monday morning, July 19, mostly for hail and downed trees, including "quite a few trees on houses." "There’ll be a lot more coming in," he said.
