Two confirmed and a third unconfirmed tornado touched down west of the Bismarck-Mandan area as part of the storms that rolled through Saturday night.

Of those confirmed, John Paul Martin, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service who surveyed the area, said the damage was minimal. He estimated costs in the tens of thousands of dollars.

The storm claimed no lives and Martin said most of the damage was wind damage, not tornado.

The first and most prevalent of the tornados landed southwest of Interstate 94 near New Salem.

All in all, Martin said five properties sustained damage with only two showing signs of wind rotation to support a tornado.

On the EF scale for tornados which runs from 1-5, Martin assigned the tornado a scale 1.

"Zero and one are weak tornadoes," he said. "Evidence indicates that it was very narrow."

A second tornado was photographed near mile marker 143 on Interstate 94. But despite Martin's efforts, he could find no evidence of any damage.

"I just can't find any debris or anything damaged," he said. "I can't find anything."

A reputed third tornado was sighted near Glen Ullin, although law enforcement never confirmed it.

Of the tornados, only one was classified. Martin said tornados that don't cause damage are assigned an EF 0 rating.

Although five farm properties sustained damage, only one of them sustained damage to the residence. The one that did was caused by a split tree trunk hitting an addition to the main structure, Martin said.

On the damaged properties, Martin said residents were either away from home or sought safety in their basements.

"All things said, we got off pretty lucky," he said. "For how bad it is, it sure could have been a whole lot worse."