100 mph winds ravage Grand Forks

http://www.wdaz.com/news/north-dakota/4039148-100-mph-winds-ravage-grand-forks#.V1DVefc-yvQ.link  (video in original news source)

“The block is just a mess,” said resident Bernadette Whetham

People cleaned up after strong winds whipped through overnight leaving a path of destruction ripping the roof off a house.

“The water just started pouring down; it was coming down pretty good,” said the homeowner Jamie Fultz.

Blowing the windows out of the deck of a home.

“It sounded exactly like a freight train, and I screamed to my wife and said let's roll because it sounded like explosions,” described David Faber.

A 10,000 camper, which Shane Dahlstrom purchased 5 days ago, was tossed around like a toy.

“It was completely air born, then flipped on its side, then landed back on its wheels,” said Dahlstrom.

23rd Avenue South was by far the hardest hit. The roof was ripped off an apartment complex, car window smashed by flying debris and an air conditioner was blown off the roof of Forks Finest Auto Body.

“I've never seen anything like this,” said Whetham.

While most of the damage was contained between 17th Avenue South and 28th Avenue South from South Washington to the Red River, other spotty damage was reported like these toppled rail cars near the American Crystal plant. 

“This is some of the worst damage I've seen, this rivals 2001 when we had 115 mile per hour winds,” said Mike Fugazzi with the Grand Forks Forestry Department.

City leaders say cleaning up the destruction is not going to be an easy task; it's a process that is expected to last several weeks.

It's an effort the city is going to try and accomplish on its own, because there are only so many contractors to go around.

“It's kind of a catch 22 when you bring in other crews, when you bring in private contractors then people who need them on their own private property are short of help,” explained Fugazzi.

While the damage is extensive everyone is quick to point out homes and cars can be replaced. They are just thankful not a single person was hurt as the storms rolled through in the middle of the night.

“Now it's just time to rebuild, get things cleaned up and moved on,” said Dahlstrom.

The National Weather Service is estimating wind speeds got up to 110 miles per hour causing all of that damage.

The storm was not a tornado, but a microburst, air cooled by rain, that descends and accelerates.