Tornadoes damage dozens of homes across southeast Minnesota, no injuries reported

Southeast Minnesota spent Friday under repeated tornado warnings, and the warnings turned into confirmed damage across Olmsted County, where 30 homes were damaged in Marion Township, 22 in Stewartville and one more in Quincy Township. No injuries or deaths were reported in the county, but the scale of the damage forced local officials to open a temporary shelter in Rochester and declare a disaster.

The National Weather Service said two tornadoes touched down in Wabasha County shortly before 3 p.m., one near Elgin and another near Plainview. The Elgin-area tornado flipped a semi and damaged two farmsteads, while the Plainview-area tornado lifted a barn off its foundation. Around 2:30 p.m., a tornado was spotted near the Rochester International Airport, and a funnel cloud was reported near Sargeant in Mower County shortly before 2 p.m. By midafternoon, the weather service had issued 15 tornado warnings across southern Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.

Emergency officials moved quickly to absorb the impact. The American Red Cross opened shelter space at Autumn Ridge Church in Rochester, where cots and blankets were set up for evacuees. Officials expected as many as 50 people to use the shelter Friday, and at least 15 people had already been displaced by the damage. The Olmsted County Board issued the disaster declaration as residents began assessing roofs, siding and outbuildings that took the hardest hit from the storm line.

The utility impact was immediate. Nearly 2,500 People’s Energy Cooperative customers were without power from Stewartville to east of Rochester Friday afternoon, adding another layer of strain for families trying to secure damaged homes and salvage food, medication and other essentials. Rochester Public Schools also delayed releasing students after school as the storms moved through the area.

The National Weather Service said it would likely take several days to determine how many tornadoes were produced, and survey teams were expected to return to southeastern Minnesota Saturday to confirm tracks and damage paths. Friday’s storms followed tornado sightings in southern Minnesota on Monday night, after the first reported tornado of 2026 in the state touched down near Amboy in Blue Earth County. The back-to-back outbreaks have kept southeast Minnesota on alert, with local emergency systems, shelter capacity and power restoration now at the center of the next 24 hours.