MPR’s Tom Crann interviews Sarah Heller, who lives in the Webber-Camden neighborhood in northwest Minneapolis, where a deadly tornado struck. Heller recounts the actual tornado and the wreckage it left in its wake.
North Minneapolis and nearby suburbs were struck by a devastating tornado on Sunday, May 22, 2011. One man died and 48 were injured from the tornado; another man died in the cleanup. Tornado impacted 3,700 structures, causing millions of dollars in damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure. It also displaced countless neighborhood residents. The path of storm extended from St. Louis Park to Blaine.
Transcripts
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SPEAKER: Tell me, what happened when the tornado came through your neighborhood? Where were you? And take us through that?
SARAH HELLER: I was at home. I was on my computer, and I didn't actually know anything was about to happen. I didn't have a TV on or a Radio on. I wasn't on the internet. So I didn't know anything was going on until the power went out.
And then I stood up and looked around and I heard-- very, very faintly, I heard a siren, and I thought, oh, I wonder what's going on? And I walked into the kitchen and the power came back on, and I turned on the Radio, and I heard someone on my NPR News station say that there was rotation a couple of blocks North of Target Field in Minneapolis, which is where I live.
And then the power went out again. And what happened next is actually really hard to describe. There was a pressure change. And it felt like I'm sure the house didn't actually move, but there was this feeling like we were being inhaled.
And I ran for the basement as fast as I could. And just as I was rounding the corner to go down the stairs, the window by the computer where I'd been sitting blew in and glass just exploded everywhere. I'd been sitting in the chair in front of that window less than two minutes before it blew.
And I got showered with glass, and I ran into the basement and stayed there for about 20 minutes while it sounded like a train or a team of horses or something was galloping over my house.
SPEAKER: What about your house? How much damage did it sustain once the storm passed through?
SARAH HELLER: We are actually among the lucky ones. According to the path of the tornado that I saw, it went right through our yard. And I don't know if this is because of that, but it blew all of the trees on one side of the house onto our neighbor's house and all of the trees on the other side of our house onto the other neighbor's house.
Both of those houses are currently unoccupied, and our house, one corner of the roof where it meets the house looks like it was just lifted. You know like how you lift the lid off of Tupperware starting at one corner?
SPEAKER: Yeah.
SARAH HELLER: It looked like it was kind of--
SPEAKER: Peel it off.
SARAH HELLER: Yeah. Pulled up on one side and then dropped back down.
SPEAKER: Did you stay in the house last night?
SARAH HELLER: I did not. My husband did. The house across the street from ours was looted within a couple of hours after the tornado hit. But we had water coming in the basement, and he wanted to make sure he was in the house in case something else happened.
SPEAKER: What are you most concerned about now moving forward?
SARAH HELLER: I'm most concerned about my neighbors. I know that there are a lot of people on my block who don't have insurance, and who are living paycheck to paycheck. And what do you do when something comes along and just destroys your home?
Even if you can still live in your home, even if you can still go inside if all of your windows are smashed or if there's water in the basement, or if there's water coming in through the roof and you don't have any money. Like, I don't know what you'd do then. And I am so thankful that's not me. And I am looking forward to getting my house in the kind of shape that we can then start helping out the people who are less fortunate than we are.
SPEAKER: Sarah Heller, thank you very much for sharing your experience with us. We're glad that you fared well yourself physically, and it sounds like that your house is not in the worst shape. So I wish you all the best with that to you and your husband.
SARAH HELLER: Thank you very much.