MPR’s Brandt Williams reports on a tornado that touched down in Minneapolis, causing damage to a church and briefly closing Interstate 35W due to flooding.
The August 19, 2009, tornado began near east 53rd and Park Avenues, then moved due north and caused tree and home damage. The Central Lutheran Church near the Minneapolis Convention Center was damaged as well as homes and businesses near I-35W and I-94. The last time the city of Minneapolis was hit by a tornado was on June 14, 1981.
BRANT WILLIAMS: Severe weather swept through the city, knocking over trees, power lines, and drenching the area with rain. Darryl Olson works at the convention center in downtown Minneapolis. He was outside the building just before the storm hit.
DARRYL OLSON: And then I went inside and just heard a rumble, and I thought a truck hit the building, is what I thought.
[? SPEAKER 2: ?] Any damage to the building over there?
DARRYL OLSON: Oh yeah. The roof is damaged. There's water leaking inside the exhibit hall over there.
BRANT WILLIAMS: At the time, more than 2000 delegates to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America National Convention were inside the building. Convention center officials say church members were told to stay inside. Their scheduled activities went on as planned. Ida [? Hakkarainen ?] was inside the convention center attending the ELCA convention. As fate would have it, [? Hakkarainen ?] is also a meteorologist in her hometown in Maryland.
IDA HAKKARAINEN: But what I did was I called a friend of mine back at the National Weather Service in Silver Spring and had her bring up the radar, and I said, tell me what's going on? And she said that the report she read said the public had reported a tornado at 2:11 PM.
BRANT WILLIAMS: Outside the convention center, a couple temporary tents used by the ELCA were trashed by twisting winds, and the copper cross on the steeple of the central Lutheran Church nearby was left hanging. Darryl Olson says he saw the winds pick up the contents of the tents and throw them across the street.
Several blocks away, Shane Gillespie says he saw what looked like a tornado. Gillespie lives just south of downtown. He says when the winds came, he ran and hid in his bathtub.
SHANE GILLESPIE: And it's the most weirdest thing because I always expected, like when there's a tornado, there'd be lots of lightning and thunder, but there wasn't any of that. It just happened so fast. And when I opened my shades, I just seen this weirdest-- got, like, really dark. And it's almost literally like, see the wind, like, just like literally flying right over me. And I just got so scared. And I took off.
BRANT WILLIAMS: When the winds passed, Gillespie emerged from his apartment to see trees uprooted all over his neighborhood. Xcel Energy officials say at least 7,400 customers in the Twin Cities metro area are without power, and that there are numerous reports of downed power lines. Xcel spokesperson Mary Sandock urges people who see downed lines to avoid them.
MARY SANDOCK: Even if they don't look like they're live, they could be live. And they should call us immediately to report those lines so we can get out there quickly and get them back up.
BRANT WILLIAMS: Damage has also been reported outside Minneapolis. Sandock says there are also more than 2000 outages in the St. Paul East Metro area. Brant Williams, Minnesota Public Radio News, Minneapolis.
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