“My bedroom needs dustin’,” he deadpanned to McLaughlin after his yard was clear.

To the west, near St. Peter, Shoreland Country Club was closed Thursday after the banquet hall roof was picked up and tossed in the yard. The ceiling remained, but water leaked through, soaking the hall floor.

The club was hit especially hard because it’s on some of the highest ground around, unshielded by trees, general manager Mark Fitzenberger said.

He couldn’t predict how long it will take to re-open the club — state health inspectors will play a large role in that decision — but he did say the priority is to clear the course’s first nine holes.

And the timing couldn’t have been worse.

A 200-player tournament to benefit the Gustavus Adolphus College football team was scheduled for Friday.

In Mankato, Vikings Village didn’t escape unscathed.

The VIP tent near the practice fields’ end zones and the Miller End Zone Bar were both destroyed. The Vikings were practicing at River Falls, Wis., on Thursday and it was unclear whether or not Viking Village would be re-opened in time for Friday’s 3 p.m. practice, village coordinator Shane Bowyer said.

The Mankato area didn’t have the widespread damage seen in Le Center, but had its share of massive trees felled.

A Broad Street tree fell onto a roof and Washington Park lost a big one.

As many as 10,000 people lost power, an Xcel Energy spokeswoman said, and 5,600 were still without power as of 4 p.m. or so. Xcel expected power to be restored by noon Friday.

Authorities in Mankato, North Mankato and St. Peter said they’ll be canvassing neighborhoods on Friday and Monday and asked residents to put debris in city boulevards, but not in the road.

On North Mankato’s Belgrade Avenue, homeowner Susan Padilla was lucky.

Not as lucky, perhaps, as the baby sparrows that had nested in her hanging fern baskets, which took a beating from the wind. Padilla checked the baskets herself, and found the sparrows safe.