Morning Edition presents listener recollections on their watery experiences during the “Storm of the Century” in July of 1987.
Considered the Twin Cities “Superstorm,” the July 23-24, 1987 event dropped 9.15 inches at the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, and over 10 inches in suburbs west and southwest of Minneapolis. This rainfall cataclysm produced the worst flash-flooding on record in the Twin Cities. An F3 tornado touched down in Maple Grove.
SPEAKER: I remember this exactly. I was actually within 2 miles of my house, but I was unable to get home because everywhere I was turning was so deep with water that I ended up parking my car on the corner of 54th and Lyndale and heading over to Borton Volvo, which was next door.
About 30 of us got to the top floor of Borton Volvo and watched the water on Lyndale rise and rise and rise. We were just like, I couldn't believe it. I stayed there until 2 o'clock in the morning, until the water receded enough to get home. So it was very localized, very scary, and a night I've never forgotten.
SPEAKER: We were at Southdale Mall, and they wouldn't let us leave. We were there during the evening time. I was sitting under a tree inside, and my parents told me it was time to go. I was six years old.
We walked through JC Penney's, out to the front, to the parking lot, and the water was over the curb. Air was shooting out of the storm drains. We drove down 66, toward Penn Avenue, and all the roads were flooded. We got home to find our home, which we were putting an addition on, damaged.
We had tarps on the roof, which had fallen off. And another tarp had pooled with water. My brother took me to our neighbor's house, and my parents stayed up all night draining the bladder of water made by the tarp.
The next day, our house was so damaged that the ceiling fell from the supports, and the plaster fell off the walls. We had to gut our entire house. It took about 10 years, but we got it fixed.
SPEAKER: It was actually the evening of my wedding shower, and we were at a condo, a party room in a condo along the river in Mendota, and just kept getting worse and worse all night, as I opened present after present. And we all had to spend the night. We weren't able to travel home.
And then the next morning, the headlines in the paper said "Shower of the century." So I copied that and sent it out with my thank-you notes. So I thought it was kind of funny. My wedding shower was the shower of the century.
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