Tornado Hits Heart of Bakken

Residents in Watford City, North Dakota are still helping families clean up from last week's tornado. The storm blasted through the heart of the Bakken and tore right through a man camp 5 miles south of town. Those in the path of the tornado virtually had nowhere to go for protection. The man camps are filled with tiny trailers that have no basements or no nearby cellars, which is typically the norm for farmhouses in rural North Dakota. Amazingly, only 9 people were injured and there were no fatalities.

"Obviously, we're very fortunate there are no deaths, to our knowledge," said McKenzie County Emergency Management Director, Jerry Samuelson.

 

Of the nine, the most critically injured was a fifteen-year-old girl who was visiting her aunt and uncle from out of state when the storm hit. She was air-lifted to Minot and spent the first couple of days in the intensive care unit at Trinity Hospital. She is reportedly doing better although she has not yet been released.

A man camp near Watford City, North Dakota

Having moved to western North Dakota to work in the oilfield, many of the residents who live in Watford City and other parts of the Bakken are relatively new to the area. Long-time residents of the area know that tornadoes like this one are rare. In fact, there have only been six tornadoes in that part of the state in 60 years.

The tornado was an F2 and produced 120 mile an hour winds. According to the Fujita Tornado damage scale, an F2 produces winds between 113-157 miles an hour and causes considerable damage. It is common during a storm of this magnitude for mobile homes to be demolished, boxcars overturned large trees uprooted and cars lifted off the ground.

Check out this YouTube Video where Jarod Piepenburg, a meteorologist from KXMB news in Bismarck chats with  Sam Champion on the Weather Channel. There is some pretty amazing footage of a tornado to which some guys probably got a little too close. Also on the video, the guys on the Weather Channel give a great explanation as to why those in the path of the tornado had no place to go for protection.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/05/26/4139982/tornado-damages-trailers-at-north.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/05/26/4139982/tornado-damages-trailers-at-north.html#storylink=cpy