Weather service confirmed F-1 tornado touched down in Highland over weekend

Highland had its own tornado touch down during the storm the weekend of March 28, weather experts have confirmed.

Interim City Manager Chris Conrad said the National Weather Service confirmed there was an EF-1 tornado that damaged properties from the far south end of town to Tri Ford on the north end, with winds that reached 90 mph.

The tornado formed between St. Jacob and Highland during the storm that struck the area March 27.

Several days later, they are still cleaning up the mess.

“Fortunately nobody was injured,” Conrad said.

There’s no dollar estimate of the damage yet, but several commercial buildings were damaged and a number of roofs and sheds sustained damage as well. The Korte Recreational Center also sustained some roof damage, Conrad said.

“We had some trees that fell on homes,” he said, and at least 10 utility poles snapped in the storm.

The EF number comes from the National Weather Service’s Enhanced Fujita Scale, which ranks tornadoes according to wind speeds and related damage. The scale goes from 0 to 5, with the highest level for tornadoes of more than 200 mph winds.

As of Wednesday, Conrad said, they are still cleaning up and making repairs.

This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 10:21 AM.