"As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 6,363 people, 2,125 households, and 1,742 families residing in the city. The population density was 187.2 people per square mile (72.3/km�). There were 2,174 housing units at an average density of 64.0/sq mi (24.7/km�). The racial makeup of the city was 97.16% White, 0.20% African American, 0.42% Native American, 1.43% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.20% from other races, and 0.53% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.35% of the population."
"I video I made of the storm that destroyed a town and killed a little girl. Weather video to be credited to KSTP 5 Eyewitness News"
Victims identified in Hugo storm, Posted at: 05/26/2008 05:27:32 PM
By: Elena Kibasova and Nicole Muehlhausen, Web Producers (youtube.com)
"Authorities are identifying the Prindle family of Hugo as being hard hit by the storms that flattened sections of the St. Paul suburb Sunday afternoon.
The Washington County sheriff's office says 2-year-old Nathaniel Prindle was killed. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has confirmed his 4-year-old sister Annika Prindle is in critical condition at a St. Paul hospital.
She's in stable condition at Regions Hospital. Authorities did not release her name.
Nathaniel's father, Gerard Prindle, remains in stable condition at Regions. His mother, Christy Prindle, was treated there and later released.
The storm flattened dozens of houses and damaged more than 150 more. Seventeen people sought medical attention, but Nathaniel was the only fatality and his family were among the most seriously hurt.
Neighbors nearby the Prindles described the storm.
"They just kept screaming, 'My children, my children!' said Marvin Miller on Monday, one day after a storm blew through this St. Paul suburb and killed Nathaniel. Gerard and Christy were the ones Miller found.
Christy's face was cut up, Gerard had broken bones, according to Miller and another neighbor who rushed in to help, Troy Ashton.
The Prindles' daughter was found quickly, under parts of a shattered wall. She wasn't breathing. Ashton, 38, did CPR on her until he was relieved by a police officer. Speaking quietly in an elementary school cafeteria filled with survivors, he said he didn't think the little girl would make it. Emergency workers revived her twice on the way to the hospital but she was still alive on Monday.
They still had to find Nathaniel. Someone stood in the home's wreckage and looked at the direction the debris was blown out into the swamp, and used that to guess which way to go.
"It was a big swamp and there was debris everywhere," Ashton said. He waded in and found the 2-year-old in chest-deep water. He handed him over to Miller, who did CPR on a broken piece of wall to keep the child above the water. The boy died anyway.
He knew while he was breathing for the boy that there wasn't much hope. "But I didn't want to give up," said Miller, 42, and a father of four.
The children's parents also were hospitalized. Three adults and a child remained hospitalized Monday with various injuries, said Jessica Flannigan, a spokeswoman for Regions Hospital in St. Paul.
Washington County Sheriff Bill Hutton said 40 to 50 homes were left uninhabitable, and another 150 to 200 were damaged to some degree. The worst-hit area was quickly closed off, but residents were to be allowed to return from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. to retrieve personal items and inspect the damage. Some homes, red-tagged by inspectors, were to remain off-limits because of safety concerns.
Residents who were waiting to get a look at their homes picked up bottled water and met with insurance adjusters on Monday at Oneka Elementary school, which just opened in the fall of 2006 in this fast-growing suburb.
"It's horrible," said City Administrator Mike Ericson. "The citizens are very shook and scared."
Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other elected officials toured the damaged area Monday. "Each pile of rubble represents somebody's life that has been destroyed or upended in a horrific way," Pawlenty said.
He said investigators were working to determine if the damage was significant enough trigger aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Likewise, the state was considering what it could provide.
Pawlenty said if the relief dollars do flow, they most likely will reimburse local governments for disaster expenses and will not go directly to residents. He noted that it appeared that most of the damage to private property was insured.
The storm that struck Hugo was one of several that battered the Midwest on Sunday, including a tornado that killed seven in northeast Iowa.
Elsewhere in Minnesota, baseball-sized hail shattered windows and car windshields. A tornado swept through Coon Rapids, toppling trees onto houses and tearing down power lines.
The Hugo area was the hardest hit. Residents reported a tornado in the area, but the National Weather Service was waiting on damage reports and its own survey before confirming that.
"It certainly looks awfully likely," meteorologist Todd Krause said. He started a formal survey of the damage patterns Monday.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)"
Tornado Hugo Minnesota Memorial weekend 2008
" Added: May 25, 2008 (Less info)
This footage is of the tornado before it hit Hugo Minnesota and then the aftermath
300 homes destroyed
1 killed
20 missing "
Blus Storm Center 5/25/08 Chase Hugo, MN
"Arrived at storm during the brunt of it. Missed the tornado...caught the inflow of surface low into the updraft though..video includes nice hail storm too. Pics of hail at end."
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