NEW HARTFORD - Strong winds ripped a path north of New Hartford Sunday afternoon, claiming two lives and sending four people to the hospital, one with serious wounds, authorities said.

About 100 homes took damage ranging from broken roofs to total demolition, said Capt. Chris Schipper with the New Hartford Fire Department.

Damage inside the town proper was limited to missing shingles and felled trees and branches, although residents are without power, he said.

"The town pretty much went unscathed," Schipper said, as the sound of chain saws buzzed and backup generators chugged away in the background.

After devastating Parkersburg, the storms followed Beaver Creek toward New Hartford, hitting homes along 325th Street, Trapper Road and Beaver Valley Street.

All but two homes in the new Deer Trail addition took damage, and high winds toppled headstones and trees alike in the cemetery off of Utica Avenue.

Relatives identified the dead as Norman Beuthine, 48, of 325th Street, and, according to neighbors, Leasa Bleeker, 71, of Beaver Valley.

Beuthine's girlfriend and companion, Renee Kincaid, was taken to Sartori Hospital in Cedar Falls and was in critical condition, Beuthine's family said.

"Hopefully she'll pull through," said Troy Randall, the boyfriend of Beuthine's daughter, Heather Greenwood of Urbana.

'This is surreal'

Greenwood and Randall walked the 325th Street property trying to make sense of it all Monday.

"This is nuts," Randall said. "This is surreal."

As they walked, Greenwood picked up mementoes and placed them on the hood of her car. There was a multi tool, a photo of Beuthine's latest granddaughter and a palm-sized statue of a heart.

"You finding anything?" asked a utility worker surveying power lines along the road.

"We found what we needed to find last night at the hospital," Randall answered.

Beuthine, who worked at the New Hartford Co-op, had moved to the home about 12 years ago. He met Kincaid, who rode her horse at an equestrian center down the road, about three years ago, Greenwood said.

Along with the house, Beuthine's property had four barns and a small forest of trees. There was little sign of any of those when the sun rose Monday.

A furnace and other debris rested in the cellar's cobblestone foundation, which was filling with water,

"It wouldn't do him no good to go in the basement," Randall said.

The cellar's only entrance was through a set of steps on the outside of the home, Greenwood said.

It was neighbors who found Beuthine and Kincaid about 20 yards apart in a mud field near two dead horses from another address.

Susan Morgensen, a nurse, and her husband, Paul, had survived the storm in their basement and then headed out on his ATV to explore, thinking they would see nothing more than downed trees.

"We came over the hill and saw this," said Susan Morgensen, motioning to the destruction.

A small group was with Kincaid.

"She was lying in between two trees flat on her back, covered in mud," said Susan Morgensen, who had to climb over toppled timber to get to the scene.

Morgensen covered Kincaid with fabric - she wasn't sure if it was clothing or curtains - to keep her warm. Kincaid kept asking about Beuthine and said they had been in the entryway when the tornado slammed into the house.

Another neighbor brought over a John Deere Gator truck, and they were able to move her across the field to an ambulance.

Memorial Day

Leasa Bleeker had a tough winter, said neighbor Lorista Ambrose.

Bleeker's husband, Harm "Toby" Bleeker Jr., had died in June 2007, and she was looking forward to spring's warm weather. She had been talking of selling the house, Lorista Ambrose said, although she had also started planting her garden, a sign she was planning to stay.

Ambrose and her husband, Tom, have lived across the street from the Bleekers for about 37 years, and they made it a point of visiting her over the winter.

"They were good neighbors. If you ever needed anything, they were there. They had the best sense of humor," Lorista Ambrose said.

The storms completely swept Bleeker's house off its foundation and them moved on to tear apart the Ambroses' home.

Luckily, the Ambroses weren't home. They were in Gilbertville placing flowers at the grave of Tom's father, Fred, who fought in World War II. It's an annual Memorial Day tradition that likely saved their lives.

"Dad's still watching out for me," Tom Ambrose said.

As relatives foraged through the clutter that used to be the Ambrose's home, Lorista marveled that in all the destruction the American flag on their yard, although muddied, was still flying.

Eye of the storm

A small cubbyhole built into a wall for the family cat and an overturned bookshelf kept Carmen Wipf and her friends safe in the basement of her Deer Trail home.

The family had been out camping when Wipf, her nephew, Devante Lang, age 12, her friend, Marlena Zink of Kansas City, and Zink's three daughters, Maryssa, 7, Madison, 5, and Makalynn, 3, returned to the house to close up a camper they left behind.

They heard the sirens and saw the wall clouds of the storm approaching with "curly" funnel clouds starting for form.

They headed for the basement, and Wipf went over to look out the egress window.

"What made me know we were in trouble was I looked up and there was debris doing this right above my head," she said circling her hand in the air.

They got the kids under a blanket, and glass started shattering.

"The one little girl (Madison), her feet actually went up in the air" as the vortex began to suck up the house, Wipf said.

Marlena Zink, who had Makalynn tucked into her shirt, grabbed Madison.

A piece of white PVC pipe fell, and Zink grabbed the pipe and put it across Madison to help hold her legs down.

"When the eye came over, she shoved her two youngest ones in that cubbyhole … Me and Maryssa were already in the back of that corner, and the bookshelf fell over on top of her, not crushing her, but it formed a nice "V" of protection right on top of her," Wipf said.

The ground floor above them was lifted up.

"I'm surprised they are alive," said Wipf's husband, Keith, who was leaving the camping site when the storm hit.

"It just picked the roof up and put it right over there," he said pointing Trapper Road.

Behind the furnace

Bret and Deni Badker and their boxer huddled between the furnace and wood-burning stove in the basement of their 325th Street home as the tornado passed over.

They were probably in the best possible place. The block basement wall to the west collapsed. They were covered with the interior walls, which shielded them from debris.

"We're just lucky to be alive. We had the dog, and we were holding onto each other for dear life," said Deni Badker.

Their eyes shut tight, she could feel the furnace moving, pushing against them.

After the storm passed, it took them about five minutes to crawl free of the rubble.

Down the road from the Badkers, Mike Steffen watched from across a narrow valley as the storm demolish his house. His wife, Megan, and their four children, ages 1 to 4, were inside but survived thanks to a concrete storm shelter installed in the basement.

Megan's father, Todd Hunemuller, built the house, and the concrete contractor had tried to talk him out of tackling the shelter. But he insisted.

"I am so thankful we did that," Hunemuller said, standing atop the unmarred shelter and gazing at the jumble of lumber that was their house.

Hunemuller lives nearby, and when the storm passed through, Mike Steffen went to Hunemuller's to shut the windows.

"He could see it coming over the hill," Hunemuller said. Mike Steffen called his wife and told her to get the children into the shelter, he said.

Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.