A HOT AIR BALLOON CRASHES NEAR A ROCHESTER HIGHWAY

Sure, that seems like a dated story from the 1920s. However, there are still plenty of hot air balloon enthusiasts and some are used for advertising. Yesterday Minnesota Department Of Transportation cameras caught a hot air balloon quickly losing altitude near Highway 63, the highway that connects Rochester to Stewartville near I-90. I recognized the spot immediately as the exit ramps I take to go to the Fleet Farm and the Marcus Movie Theater on the left side of the video. The balloon is going down quickly and it looks like it will land on the highway. That is until it hits the power lines. Reports say that everyone on board was OK as the basket was close enough to the ground when it hit. The balloon was found about a mile away after it detached and floated off. The ditch also started on fire but fire crews arrived and extinguished the flames. Crashing a balloon has to be very stressful as you have zero control over where it goes.