MPR’s Annie Feidt talks with Mark Van Every, spokesperson for the Superior National Forest Service in Duluth, about the BWCA storms. Van Every says it was the worst storm his office has seen the the past decade.
The Boundary Waters was one of the hardest hit areas by weekend's violent storms. Heavy rains and strong straight line winds made many portages impassable and downed trees at campsites. The forest service is working to evacuate injured campers. They are also clearing roads and portages so groups won't become trapped in the area.
The Boundary Waters–Canadian Derecho (also called the Boundary Waters Blowdown), produced straight-line winds of up to 100 mph, which uprooted and toppled nearly 500,000 acres of the BWCA's trees in a massive blowdown. It began in Fargo mid-morning on July 4, 1999, and plowed at a northeasterly angle across the state. It mowed across northeastern Minnesota, crossed into Canada, and fizzled out in Maine the following morning, traveling 1,300 miles and lasting 22 hours.