Vasa church area ravaged

Talk about it

Thursday’s strong winds tore part of the roof off Vasa Lutheran Church and the Vasa Museum, and toppled so many trees it was impossible to get to the church or parsonage, the Rev. Michael Dobbins said Friday.

The storm also knocked down trees and tipped headstones in the cemetery, damaged local homes and devastated area crops, he added. Vasa Trail, the road that loops off Highway 19 into Vasa, was blocked.

Because of the trees down on the once-shady church lawn and parking lot, Sunday’s 10:30 a.m. church service is being moved to Vasa Center, a former school building.

“There are not too many nice trees left” around the gazebo, Dobbins said, and crews worked all day Friday to try and clear trees out of the parking lot.

Ironically, the congregation planned to worship outdoors this weekend.

“There’s still no power by the park” or at the parsonage, Dobbins said. “Power poles were just knocked over. … We have power at the school, and I think most of the phones are back.”

Although some church windows were broken, the stained glass windows are OK, Dobbins said. Part of the roof in the back was ripped away, leading to water damage inside.

“Not too many trees survived” in the cemetery, either, he said. “Quite a few gravestones were knocked over.”

Dobbins said Goodhue County Sentencing to Service crews came and helped clean up the cemetery.

“The museum got more damage than the church,” Dobbins said. “One whole side of the roof was ripped off,” but residents rushed to cover the hole, and it appears the contents were not damaged.

He went around the community Friday to check on residents.

“There were pretty fierce winds,” he said. “A lot of homes were damaged. And the fields were really devastated. But everybody is fine. No one was hurt. People are resilient.”

Tags: storm, damage, vasa