Hillsboro emergency personnel responds to Northwood tragedy

Northwood publisher, Beth Johnson, promises to print newspaper; says city will rebuild

Beth Johnson was running on community pride this past week.
As publisher of the Northwood Gleaner, the Hillsboro native needed generators to run her office and her house — and the help of fellow newspaper people to get her weekly newspaper to print.
After a devastating F4 tornado hit Northwood, N.D. Sunday night with 170 mph winds, nothing in town was “normal.”
With encouragement from family and friends, Johnson was determined that the next edition of the Gleaner would offer a dose of much-needed normalcy.
Johnson is the daughter of Ron Stuart of Hillsboro and a 1984 graduate of Hillsboro High School. She bought the Gleaner in October 2004.
As business leaders in Northwood vowed to rebuild, Johnson said the momentum was growing and so was the hope that Northwood would survive the devastation.
“We’re going to rebuild,” Johnson said, echoing the sentiments of several large employers in the community, like Agvise, an agricultural lab with 65 employees.
Sunday’s tornado hit shortly before 9 p.m. with little warning. Johnson said she and family “huddled in the basement.”
They could hear and feel the tornado pass through. “I knew we were going to be fine,” Johnson said.
After the roar of the tornado passed, the family quickly assessed the damage outside. They headed back to the basement when another round hit — this time heavy rain and hail.
In the morning light, the Johnsons discovered the house suffered mimimal damage, Johnson added. “But every tree in my yard and everybody else’s yard is gone.”
Johnson was impressed by the response of emergency personnel from communities far and wide.
Hillsboro ambulances and firetrucks were called. At least one injured Northwood resident was briefly hospitalized at Hillsboro Medical Center with a broken collarbone.
Hillsboro firemen were assigned to go door-to-door in the hours after the tornado hit to check on residents and account for any missing persons.
Johnson said the days since have been a heartfelt tale of neighbor-helping-neighbor. She said some people “lost everything.”
Thursday morning Johnson finally had computers with power and was able to answer her emails. The paper would be put together Friday with help from the staff of the Steele County Press. It will have to wait to be printed until Tuesday though, not due to the storm but because the press is closed Monday for Labor Day.
“I’ll get it done,” Johnson promised.
Paula Pederson, the new elementary school principal in Hillsboro, was the superintendent at Northwood last year.
She grieves with the Northwood community at the destruction there and the loss of one life. Larry Weisz, who was killed in the Sunday night tornado, was at one time a janitor at the Northwood School.
Pederson and her family were living in Grand Forks in 1997, when the Red River flooded that city. The Pederson home suffered extensive flood damage.
The Northwood tornado is no less a tragedy, said Paula Pederson.
Her husband, Brad, was in Northwood earlier this week.
“It looks like a war zone,” Brad Pederson told his family.
Kevin Coles, Hillsboro High School principal the last 12 years, was hired earlier this month as Northwood’s superintendent.
Monday was his first day on the job. The school suffered extensive damage.
Northwood’s board of education decided this week to send its students to Hatton for the first semester.