CONGER, Minn.- Some Southern Minnesota farmers are still putting their lives back together just more than two months after getting hit by a deadly tornado.
It wiped out homes, barns, and grain bins.
Doug Steele's farm was scattered with debris after the monster twister ripped through it last June.
He lost the buildings where he kept more than 24 hundred hogs. Fewer than 50 died.
He took shelter with his family in the basement of their home.
"All you could really tell was the pressure you know building in your ears and all the glass breaking out then the rush of fresh air into the house and then it was over with," he said.
Looking around the Steele's farm now you can see some of the progress they've made, for instance just two weeks ago he completed work on two brand new hog buildings.
Steele says they completed the project just in time.
"I get pigs every 8 weeks so I had two months from the time the tornado hit to the til I had to have pigs in them so, we got it done, we had about six hours to spare," he said.
With crops already starting to turn, He's also working against the clock to get ready for the harvest.
Workers are assembling the last of several new grain bins on his property.
"It's going to be nice cause it's going to be dry, you know and I think it's going to be a better crop than last year, but if it was another two weeks behind it would have been better for me," he said.
He says the progress wouldn't have been possible without help from friends, family, and neighbors.
"Right away that first week or two weeks, I know a couple days I had over 100 people helping, since then, I’ve had a couple guys that have been here helping me all summer," he said.
Now he's looking forward to winter.
"It's the summer that wasn't for me it's just busy, but we've made a lot of progress so I can't complain," he said.
Steele is happy no one in his family was hurt in the storm. He says his insurance company has covered nearly all of his damage.
