# Ottertail Lake, MN-Storm Damage



## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Reports of some nasty damage in and around Ottertail Lake this morning. Straight line winds that were VERY strong. I talked to a buddy of mine whose wife rode the storm out. He wasn't sure about house damage but there was tons of trees gone and the lift and boat were gone!! He also told me that there were search and rescue teams going door to door on the lake and in Ottertail checking to see who was home at the time.

ANyone have any first hand reports??


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## Field Hunter (Mar 4, 2002)

Our beach on Star Lake looks like a bomb had gone off. There are about 60 large maples and basewoods blown over like toothpicks....most toppled over roots and all due the extremely wet conditions in the soil.
My 18 footer/130 horse, which was on a 3200# canopy lift was picked up and dropped 100 feet down the beach upside down. I found the boat upside down with about a foot of the bottom showing. I still can't beleive we righted the boat on the first try. Tied 2 tube ropes underneath the boat and hooked up to a pontoon boat.....gunned it and it went right side up very fast. Second boat is salvageable. Believe it or not, both canopy lifts sustained NO damage.....even the canopy tops are un ripped.

My neighbor took a direct hit with the biggest maple tree on his lot going right through the roof when it fell.....his dock and lift are gone and his boat is upside down with no sign of the 40 horse motor.

Back to the lake today....the chain saws are going to get a big workout.

I'm glad that the damn thing hit on Mnday morning....if it would have been one day earlier it would have been very bad with all the extra people around.

Thanks to the guy that came by and offered to help with the pontoon. Several others on the lake just motored by slowly to see damage and then disappeared without a word back to their cabins.


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## DeltaBoy (Mar 4, 2004)

I talked to a guy in Pine River, MN and he said that the golf course had 60-70 trees down.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Wow Monte, that sucks! Thank goodness the damage was minimal to the boat.


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## muskat (Mar 5, 2002)

One word..........unbelievable. We have a cabin on the NE side of Otterial, I could write a book about all the things that I thought I would never see. Here is 2 pics of just our place. 
[siteimg]1860[/siteimg]

The dock seen in this picture is our neighbors.........only 2 pieces left of ours. The boat lift is from 5 cabins south. Tons of debris. The paddleboat made it though!!!

[siteimg]1859[/siteimg]
This is the new Lund, laying on what used to be an 8 foot pile of rip-rap, which is now spread into the lake.........boat is totaled. The boat lift looks more like a diamond than a rectangle now.

Out of the 50 or so cabins that line the area on the NE corner, only one had a boat still remaining in a lift. It just happened to be about 100 yards north, upside down still in the lift.

I couldnt believe the nerve of some people, everyone on the shore is working their a** off, and people are skiing and tubing by. uke:


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## fishhook (Aug 29, 2002)

The damage is all over fellas...dickinson, langdon, esmond, etc.

What goes around comes around. After a bad storm it's a good time to have good friends.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Amazing. They're forcasting more severe weather tonight and tomorrow too.

It's REALLY hot and humid outside!


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## Dan Bueide (Jul 1, 2002)

Hey guys, sorry to hear about the mess.

Bert, how did you fare?

I've got a 16" Stihl if anyone needs to borrow it.


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## Field Hunter (Mar 4, 2002)

I'd bet Bert is cleaning up a bunch.....he's just down the road from Star over on Dead.....the are area got clobbered.


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## rodfarva (Feb 17, 2005)

My cousin has a place down there and he said that boat lifts and everything are gone. There was one guy had couldn't find his boat lift, pontoon or his other boat. His camper didn't have any damage and they didn't have their boat in thank god.


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