2 killed, dozens injured in Minn. tornadoes

By DAVE KOLPACK Associated Press Writer

WADENA, Minn. (AP) - Two people were killed and dozens injured as a series of tornadoes tore through Minnesota.

The storms Thursday flattened homes, toppled power lines and left a chunck of one northwest Minnesota town treeless.

When the storm came through, Jay Hotakainen huddled in the basement of his home in the northeast Minnesota town of Wadena with his 12-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter. he says the walls shook and everything in the house rattled.

In southern Minnesota's Freeborn County, so many power lines were down that the state Department of Transportation closed a section of Highway 251.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the state's emergency management director plan to visit the Wadena and Albert Lea areas Friday to survey the damage.