[Matt D.]

I left Plymouth around 5:30 just as the shelf cloud was rolling in. Saw a huge lightnight strike somewhere west of 494 in the highway 55 area and hightailed it out of there. Heading south on 494 I saw a huge cloud of dust ahead of me, and a pickup pulling a big camper almost lost it just ahead of me as the gust of wind hit it. Onto 394 heading east, dust was passing me as I was doing 60-65, just barely outrunning the front. Trying to get onto 94 was a joke, backed up a good 2 miles. The heavy rain, wind and hail came, anyone and everyone was pulled over under every bridge overpass on the way to St. Paul. I turned off onto the first street just before Front Ave. and there was a tree completely blocking the road, from curb to curb. Turned around, went down the next street, drove down the alley and saw a bright light reflecting off the QPR windows... A power light was arcing right next to the bar across the street, as bright as when you weld. Hung out with Josh and Mike for a while, once the rain subsided we ran into the neighbors outside and inspected the damage. There were shingles laying between the houses that didn't belong to any of us, and there was a tree down the street that was hit by lightning. Most of the tree fell and took out a chainlink fence and did minor damage to a pickup, and the top part of the tree was completely detached from the trunk and was blown a good 20 feet from it. The barber shop nearby had the tin roof torn back a little, and random trees here and there blown down. Luckily nothing happened to our own personal property. Hopefully all of you are safe and sound as well.