An apple orchard lost at least half its crop after an EF-1 tornado touched down near Watertown overnight Friday.

LuceLine Orchard and Winery is on a sprawling 155 acre property run by Rich Pawelk and Terri Traen Pawelk, as well as their children.

The orchard holds 10,000 apple trees; the storm destroyed 5,000-6,000 of those trees.

"We had no idea until this morning that this was what happened," said Traen.

Traen was out in the orchard around 10:30 p.m. the night before tying apple trees.

"All of a sudden, it was right over us. So we raced to the house to get in and I would say within 20 minutes, 15 minutes, all the power went out," she recalled.

The damage was scattered across the property. Besides the orchard, the storm destroyed a gazebo and left many downed trees in their nature trail.

Fortunately, the family's farm animals survived the storm. It also appears their grapes were not damaged.

"It was pretty devastating. It was worse than we thought," Traen said.

Some trees were as young as four years old while others were as old as eight. Unlike other crops, it can take years to grow an abundant apple tree.

"This was by far our best crop that we've ever had this year," she said.

According to Traen, they do not have crop insurance.

LuceLine Orchard was just approved to host weddings. Traen says they will still go ahead with those plans.

All the family members have other jobs. Traen co-hosts the KQ morning show for KQRS.

After Traen posted on Facebook about the storm damage, more than 100 people came out to help with clean up Saturday morning.

"It's just unbelievable, the kindness, and we're very grateful," Traen said. She went on to say, "From the bottom of my family's heart, thank you."

Source - http://www.kare11.com/