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Mother Nature showed no mercy as powerful winds of up to 111 mph ripped through Mower County, and resulted in half of Taopi being reduced to rubble. Residents witnessed true devastation and told reporters that they are just lucky to be alive after the tornado.
Local, Angie Schmitz, shared her account of the storm with the Star Tribune.
"It was close," she said. "I shouldn't be here. It was close."
Taopi is a small farm town located in the south eastern part of the state. It spans five blocks and there are only 80 residents in total. Volunteers from the surrounding areas flooded into Taopi to help clean up the debris.
According to the Pioneer Express, 10 of the 22 homes in the town are entirely destroyed.
"You don't know how good you have it living in a small town," city clerk Jim Kiefer told the Star Tribune. "I didn't ask these people to come. I turned 50 people away this morning because I didn't know what direction I was going to go."
He went on to detail the destruction:
"There is hardly a tree left. Huge trees just pulled out by the stump and laid on their side. We have a mess. It kind of went down Main Street. Half the town is gone."