July 26, 2000 - MPR’s Tim Post reports on how residents of Granite Falls spent the day cleaning up and assessing damage after a tornado ripped through town on Tuesday night. Hundreds of homes were pulverized on the westside of town. Post talked with homeowners as they were allowed back into damaged areas of town to collect personal items.
July 26, 2000 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil reports on tornado that struck Granite Falls, Minnesota. Steil gets firsthand accounts of the storm. The tornado is the latest disaster for a city which has seen floods and job losses in the last few years.
November 10, 2000 - It's an event that's a part of Great Lakes lore. On November 10, 1975, The SS Edmund Fitzgerald, one of the biggest, fastest, and most powerful iron ore carriers at the time, sank in a fierce storm on Lake Superior. All 29 crew members went down with the ship. MPR’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Captain Dudley Paquette, the last living captain who sailed on Lake Superior during the infamous storm.
November 10, 2000 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer interviews meteorologist Mark Seeley about the Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940. The storm brought strong winds which averaged over 25 mph for a 24-hour period and gusted over 60 mph. Rain turned to sleet and snow in the late morning on November 11th, and worsened to blizzard conditions very rapidly, as snowfall rates approached 4 inches per hour. The air temperature fell by as much as 40 degrees over 24 hours and inch thick ice coated poles and phone lines, breaking many of them. 49 Minnesotans perished; many duck hunters caught off-guard by the storm.
April 12, 2001 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Winona resident Calvin Fremling, who shares memories of 1965 flood that threatened the town.
April 13, 2001 - Mainstreet Radio's Dan Gunderson reports that Governor Jesse Ventura wrapped up his two-day flood tour in East Grand Forks. The governor says he's pleased with how the flood fight is going all across the state. The lower flood crests predicted at most locations on the Red, and the Minnesota rivers, are allowing many communities a break for the Easter weekend.
May 10, 2001 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews David Gisch, the Emergency Preparedness coordinator for Dakota County, about damage assessment after several tornadoes and funnel clouds touched down along a path south of the Twin Cities. Gisch says the damage is most severe in a farming area just east of Northfield.
June 20, 2001 - The tornado that ripped through Siren, Wisconsin on the night of June 18th, 2001 also devastated the area of Mudhen Lake, where Richfield's Hope Presbyterian Church holds a summer camp. 53 third and fourth graders were gearing up for a week at Camp Ojibway. Now the camp is closed for the summer.
October 3, 2001 - MPR’s Tom Scheck reports on Governor Ventura’s visit to New York City to show Americans can come to New York after the September 11th attacks. During his visit, Ventura met with a bond rating agency and toured the area of the World Trade Center disaster, where he handed out memorial cards written by Minnesotans to relief workers.
April 17, 2002 - As part of Severe Weather Awareness Week in Minnesota, Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Bill Hughes, a SKYWARN spotter and a spotter instructor. Hughes says spotters cannot be replaced by technology.