The Treasure State is not usually known for having tornadoes, so when two destructive twisters touched down in the southeastern Montana community of Baker Saturday evening, everything came to a screeching halt.
This includes a Little League baseball game and the Montana High School Rodeo Finals at the Fallon County Fairgrounds, just a stone’s throw away from where the first twister damaged several homes and structures after reaching the ground at about 6:46 p.m. It is the first time in the history of this town of 1,875 that a storm this severe has struck within its city limits, just 15 miles west of the North Dakota state line.
A second funnel touched down just outside of town at about 8:30 p.m., destroying a residence south of Baker.
In all, according to Fallon County Clerk and Recorder Lani DeBuhr, “at least five to seven homes are totally gone, another 15 have significant damage.”
There were six injuries, but no fatalities.
DeBuhr, a member of the Fallon County Fair board and the High School Rodeo Finals committee, said everything at the arena got put on hold temporarily.
“We had to stop everything,” DeBuhr said. “We had to finish the (second) performance Sunday morning and push back (Sunday’s) short go to 1 p.m.”
DeBuhr said they knew a severe storm was looming, but they had no idea how severe.
“We had evacuated the arena Thursday when we were expecting high winds and golf-ball size hail that didn’t materialize,” she said. “The kids were very co-operative then, and they were co-operative Saturday.
“A (Fallon County) Sheriff’s Deputy alerted us that they spotted rotation in the clouds, and that’s when we shut it down and got all the kids, parents, fans and animals under shelter.”
The tornadoes also shut down a golf tournament and a shooting competition. “We had a lot of sports people here in town,” DeBuhr said.
She added that the close-knit community has rallied together. “The Montana High School Rodeo Association has earmarked $500 toward relief efforts for the families whose homes were damaged or destroyed.”
Choteau cowgirl Shelby Rasmussen was crowned All-Around Cowgirl Sunday afternoon at the end of the five-day event. She said the mindset of her fellow contestants, despite between evacuated from the arena twice in five days, was truly amazing.
“Everyone handled it really well,” Rasmussen, who will be a home schooled high school senior this fall, said. “Everyone was very helpful and made sure everyone else was all right.
“(After the all-clear was given) several of the rodeo kids and their parents went into town and started helping with the cleanup process.”
Rasmussen said the first twister was a little too close for comfort.
“It was about 500 yards from us,” she said. “It touched down at the airport and ran between the airport and the fairgrounds, then went into town.”
Rasmussen, daughter of famed rodeo clown Flint Rasmussen, said winning the All-Around was her biggest goal. She also won the barrel racing and took third in breakaway roping.
“Winning was really satisfying,” she said. “I had a great state finals, despite all that happened.”
Her sister Paige finished sixth in the All-Around competition
By: Great Falls Tribune, Lee Vernoy, lvernoy@greatfallstribune.com
Photo: Great Falls Tribune
