Klobuchar to Revisit Wadena

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar will be in Wadena on Friday to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony for a new Wadena-Deer Creek High School to replace the one that was destroyed by a tornado that ripped through the community last summer.

The new Wadena-Deer Creek High School is being built on the same site as the former high school.

The new school is expected to be ready for classes by fall 2012. In the meantime, students have been attending classes at an elementary school and at M State Community and Technical College.

Last year on June 17, a series of 48 tornadoes stormed across Minnesota, setting a one-day record for tornadoes in Minnesota. Three people were killed, including two near Almora and Mentor in northwestern Minnesota and one near Albert Lea in southern Minnesota.

Wadena was the hardest hit community, with more than 200 homes and buildings destroyed.

According to the National Weather Service, the Wadena tornado was rated as an EF4, with peak winds estimated to 170 mph. This tornado made its initial touchdown about 3 miles south-southwest of Wadena around 5:00 p.m., and produced a continuous damage path through Wadena before lifting about 7 miles north-northeast of the town by 518 p.m.