Near Hurricane Winds Rip Apart Trees

A very large tree lost a few branches and buried a nice little car underneath. Paullina Firemen and city crews were at it all night trying to free the car fearing a person was trapped inside.

A scene like this can be found across O’Brien County. Trees, fences and powerlines are the biggest items damaged in the storm Monday July 28. This tree limb is at an intersection in Primghar.

by Mari Radtke
A wild storm featuring high winds with gusts of 80 mph, heavy rainfall, rumbling thunder and a real light show of lightning blitzed O’Brien County on Monday July 28. The storm tore through from about 9:30 until about 10:30pm. Power went out in Paullina, Primghar, Sutherland and Calumet for varying times. As of 10:30am crews are still working to restore power in Paullina. Primghar lineman Jarrett Russell restored power in Primghar Monday night and moved to give assistance in Paullina where he could be found Tuesday morning. Primghar sustained mostly downed trees and the relatively brief power outage. No other damage reports had been made by press time.
Rich Van Beek in Sutherland had all he could do to get streets opened that were blocked by fallen tree branches. MidAmerican Energy restored power to Sutherland and Calumet by 4:30am. They were working on power lines at Mill Creek Park, Paullina as late as 9:30am Tuesday. At least one car is reported damaged in Sutherland.
The Paullina Fire Department, city crews and Russell were hard at work with tree removal in Paullina. At least two cars are reported damaged by falling trees. One was so completely covered crews didn’t know it was there until their effort to remove tree branches discovered it. The work in Paullina is ongoing with power out for much of the community. That is expected to continue until at least noon Tuesday, but other guesses suggest it could be Wednesday.
Many businesses in Paullina are interrupted by the power outage including City Hall. Watch their Facebook page for updates.
Thanks to CarGo Express of Sutherland for donating two pizzas to the crews in Paullina.