Bemidji June 21 Storm: Tree Falls on House of Family in Lavinia

On the northeast side of Lake Bemidji in the Lavinia neighborhood during Saturday’s severe storm, the Hunt family had a tree fall into their bathroom, and one family member barely escaped with their life. It’s a mark from a 100-year storm, with a 100-year-old tree blown over by 100 mph winds.

“It’s hard to imagine what it’s going to take to recover,” said Donald Hunt Sr., whose home was damaged in Lavinia.

Emergency alerts rang out after midnight, but many were unaware of how severe the storm would become.

“We had heard the siren, and I guess we didn’t think it was going to be that bad, so we were still up on the second floor,” added Hunt.

His son, Donald Hunt Jr., was still securing windows and doors when the unthinkable happened.

“I went and closed the window in the bathroom and I didn’t even have time to blink,” he said. “I saw the tree coming towards the bathroom window.”

He narrowly escaped the 100-foot-tall pine by jumping out the door and into the hallway. He was left with only a few cuts and bruises, and one not-so-tall tale.

“It’s amazing because I was maybe two feet, three feet from where the tree came through onto the shower. But it was, it was—it was a moment that I’ll never forget, and I’ll be able to talk to you about forever.”

Don Sr. tried calling for medical help to check on his son, but it would never arrive.

“They called back and said their ambulance had gone in the ditch before it even got off of the highway north of the bridge on the Mississippi,” he explained.

The rest of the night was a blur for the Hunts, who sheltered in their basement while winds equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane ravaged their neighborhood.

“It was piling things into bags,” said Don Jr. “Not sure what to save, what not to save versus human lives and getting out.”

Sunrise brought to light the devastation. The view was unfamiliar.

“You walk out of the house and you think, ‘How on earth could this have happened here?’ reflected Don Sr. “I mean, there is no example of anything this magnitude.”

It’s one thing to see it on the news in Florida, where there’s just a few palm trees here and there, but you can look around the neighborhood and you used to not be able to see daylight through the trees,” said Don Jr. “And it’s all open space now. It’s incredible.”

Don Sr.’s grandson Sauron described the scene exactly how an eight-year-old might.

“I was thinking of [in “The Lion King,”] Mufasa’s mammoth graveyard, but instead of mammoths, trees.”

There are so many trees that the Hunts have been unable to use a car to get provisions. Their house is a quarter-mile hike up Lady Slipper Court from Lavinia Road, and their only access is a trail carved from fallen trees, some too big to move by hand.

Despite this, and that they still have no electricity or running water, Don Sr. is keeping things in perspective.

“The disaster is so dynamic in the community here that it’s impossible to understand how all of the people that have been affected are dealing with it. You know, we had our problems here, but everybody was safe.”

But one thing he can’t keep in perspective is the forest in which he lives, a place that will never look the same again.

“No, it never will,” he emphasized. “These trees, that one that came down, the arborist told me was a hundred years old. Well, it’ll be 100 years till we see another one like it.

Fortunately for the Hunts, they have family that live nearby who have been able to get them food, water supplies, and—more importantly—are working on finding a way to clear the road so they can finally get mobile.