Willmar Tribune

Telephone Damage.

Considerable damage was done to telephones and telephone company equipment, both locally and in other parts of this section of the state.

Here in Willmar 35 telephones were put out of commission, when a cable was struck by lightning and burned out. Most of these phones were located on Second street, west.

At Appleton two large trees were blown across toll lines, putting them out of commission. This damage was repaired early Sat. morning.

At Ruthton a considerable amount of damage was done to the phone service by lightning. Branches of trees and flying debris caused some trouble at Paynesville and New London. The entire force of workmen in the Willmar exchange was out on the job repairing the damage.

No rain fell at New London, although one-tenth of an inch rainfall was recorded at the government station at the asylum.
Saw Small Whirl.

Some residents in the neighborhood of Tenth Street West declared that at the time when the storm was at its height they saw what resembled miniature twisters in the air. These were small whirl pools of wind that struck down and tore off large limbs of trees. These whirls were like sudden gusts of wind that snapped off the branches in quick order.

Some large branches were down on Tenth, Ninth and Eighth streets west.
4 Lines Down

Supt. Kleve of the Power Plant reported that in four places in the city pairs of 2300 volt lines were down. These were put back at once leaving those parts of town in darkness for an hour. The fire department aided the city linemen at work in the dark with the truck lights.