Good morning. EARLY morning here…. 4:12 am to be exact. I am helping my friends today at the Little Falls Craft Fair. Should be a crazy time – it is one of the biggest if nt the biggest craft fair in Minnesota. I was there all day yesterday helping set up – from 8 am – 9:30 last night. Yes… I am tired, but I love this stuff. I have never been part of working the fair before and they expect that 100,000 people will come through between today and tomorrow. We are meeting up at 5 am to go and get ready.
A couple of days ago I mentioned e were having some extreme rain here. I don’t know why but I just thought that is was a windy rainy storm. When all was said and done I had a few branches in the yard but that was about it. However, when I drove through town I seen it was a different story.
Roads were closed due to trees down. Up town on one of the main streets the light pole was down. Heading out-of-town, a billboard was tipped over and so on… Turns out – it was 70 mile per hour straight line winds and Brainerd was a direct hit.
Today’s pictures are not my own, but pictures that my friends took around the area of the damage. For today’s Saturday Snapshot I thought I would show you that storm of September 4th:
To my knowledge no one was hurt. After the storm, the sun came out and the clean up began. The local schools did not have electricity or running toilets for about 6 hours. Local companies hauled in outdoor portable toilets. I heard yesterday that local restaurants and fast food places are not selling coffee at this time as the water due tot he storm has been tested to have bacteria in. We are in a “you must boil water before you drink it” for the next week warning, but we are on well water so we are ok.
Anyhoo – got to go. Check out the other Saturday Snapshots here. 🙂
Book Journey 
WOW that certainly was quite a storm! Glad no one was hurt.
Crazy… I sat at home and blogged during it 🙂
Wow! I didn’t think you got storms like that up there. So glad you are safe.
Oh yes! You should see my tornado pictures of 2001. Our house was hit.
I had no idea. Glad you made it through with nothing major this time. Those straight line winds can be every bit as damaging as a tornado. Have a great weekend.
Yikes!!
Yup.
I think your storm came up to Montreal because we had such a bad thunderstorm yesterday that it also knocked down large tree branches and streets were blocked. Some areas lost electricity too. Still raining today…
The storm par was fairly quick here Laura. About an hour of extreme rain. We still have ditches and some yards flooded.
Here we are still having HOT weather, but a couple of weeks ago, farther north, we had a huge earthquake. We weren’t affected in Central California, however. Those trees did some damage….almost as if they were angry. Thanks for sharing.
Here’s MY SATURDAY SNAPSHOT POST
It is crazy how the trees split half way up.
That was some storm! I’m so relieved that no one was injured.
Me too Beth!
Glad no one seemed to be injured but the inconveniences are major. My best wishes for your town, and enjoy your craft fair.
Thank you day one of the craft fair was HOT.
WOW!!!! Glad to hear that you are OK! xo
Thanks April 🙂
I hope property damage wasn’t too great. It’s amazing that no one was hurt and that you and your family came through the storm all right. Thanks for sharing photos.
Sandy @ Texas Twang
Most of the trees I seen were down but not having harmed buildings. We did have a lumber yard lose part of its roof however…
Oh my! You had it rough out there.
Our house fared well and my electricity was back on by 8:30 am but some did not have water or electricity until after 2 pm.
Glad everyone is ok. We had one of those straight wind shear storms a few years ago and it was a mess for a few weeks. It does seem like there are more of these storms now – or maybe it’s just that there are more photos of them now on the net.
I agree Leslie – I think our weather is more extreme.
Glad you didn’t have much damage, but it’s sad about the downed trees, no electricity and people having to boil their water. We have a few tornadoes a year go through the town about 10 min. from here, but we only get the strong winds etc. like you did. The worst part for us is the electric being out for hours and the lightening, which got my husbands tv and our dvrs (3 times in two weeks) last month. Glad you’re ok!
The fair sounds awesome…I love stuff like that. I hope you and your friend sell all the honey and have a great not too hot day!
It is late in the years for us to have such a storm – and it was like the 2nd day of school…. good grief.
Oh how scary. I hate when trees start snapping.
It would have freaked me out if I would have seen it!
Me too!
Scary the force of the weather. Hope the craft fair goes well.
Thanks, day one of the fair was goo d- lots and lots of people to talk too…. it was hot in the booth but we made it through 🙂
Wow, I’m amazed no one was hurt.
I am too!
I heard from a friend of my sister’s, who lives in MN that their lakehouse had extreme winds too. Glad you are all OK and hope the craft fairs goes well. The craft fair season begins. Yea!!
Thanks it is my first “working” craft fair.
Wow, that was some storm!!
It was. 🙂
Wow that was quite the storm! Amazing pics- glad you guys didn’t get hit hard. We had some storms roll through the other night but nothing like that, if they were the same system they were quite weaker when they got here.
The craft fair sounds great!
The craft fair was great – I wish I could do both days but it collides with the ST Paul Classic bike ride which I hear is a must do 🙂 Going today!
Goodness! And how fortunate that nobody was hurt!
I think so too!
Trees and branches coming down are one of my greatest fears with storms : / A few years ago our town got hit badly with that. We had torrential rain for days, making the ground extremely soggy, then the day the strong gusts came, if they caught a tree right, their roots lifted from the soft soil and toppled. Such an unnerving sight it was here, and seeing these picks, they make me anxious, too! Glad no one was hurt 🙂
It was a bit of a flash back to the tornado of 2001 but this had no where near the damage the tornado did.
That storm was vicious! We are having a storm here right now, in Perth, Western Australia, and the winds are whipping around our house. I don’t mind storms, when I’m indoors!
Wow, glad no one was hurt. It seems lately the storms go north or south of us.
Looks like that was a really hefty storm. I am glad you came through it well.
Wow! Glad to hear you are safe.
Terrible. We’d call it a tropical storm down here. Glad no one was hurt.
How awful. Glad no one was hurt.
That must have been rather frightening while it was going through