FARGO (AP) - President Bush on Tuesday declared a disaster in North Dakota for areas hit by heavy June rains, the same day Gov. John Hoeven toured portions of southeastern North Dakota hit by recent severe weather.

National Weather Service officials suspect the heavy damage from Sunday night storms in the region was the work of a couple of tornadoes, but they were still investigating the track of the storms.

"We have some confidence that there were a couple of tornadoes involved in this. It's their track, duration and intensity that we need to get more information on," said Greg Gust, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Forks.

One tornado appeared to have been on the west side of Tower City, and another south of Embden, Gust said Tuesday. He and his crew were making another check of the damaged areas.

Hoeven on Tuesday toured parts of Cass County hit by the storm, and said the farming community was hard hit.

"(Farmers) will have crop insurance and in some cases they'll have crop-hail insurance, but it just doesn't replace that quality crop," he said.

Hoeven said he hopes to link the recent damage with the disaster declaration issued for areas hit by severe storms and flooding from June 2-18.

Hoeven asked for the disaster declaration earlier this month, saying repair estimates in 11 counties exceeded $1.6 million.

The disaster declaration is for the counties of Barnes, Bowman, Dickey, Grant, LaMoure, Logan, McHenry, Ransom, Richland, Sargent and Stutsman. It obligates the federal government to pay 75 percent of the public works repair bill.

Affected farmers and businesses in the 11 counties, plus any adjoining counties, may be eligible for low-interest loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the federal Small Business Administration.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said damage surveys were continuing in other areas, and might result in the addition of more counties and other forms of assistance.

Sunday's storm brought heavy rains, strong winds and hail to a large part of southeastern North Dakota. The Steele County community of Colgate was one that was recovering.

"We had the best-looking crop we ever had here, until (the storm) … it looks like somebody just smashed it," said farmer Ray Mewes.

In Colgate, full-grown evergreen trees were snapped in half by the wind, and other trees were damaged.

"It's hard to see the trees. Some of the trees that have gone down are over 100 years old," Mewes said. "But everybody's house is still intact."

In the small Stutsman County town of Millarton, damage included downed trees, holes punched in vinyl siding on homes, and gardens and farm fields destroyed.

"It's the first time in the 19 years we've lived here we had weather like this," Tom Sklebar said. "The wind was so strong it cracked some rafters in the barn."

No injuries were reported from the storm.