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frigilux

frigilux

Well-known member
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Joined
Mar 3, 2007
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12,665
Location
The Minnesota Prairie
A couple of small tornadoes went through south Minneapolis earlier this afternoon, where there are a lot of trees & power lines down. Some damage also done just north of downtown and the northeast 'burbs.

I'm pretty sure Robert is in south Mpls., but I'm not recalling the street. I have friends at Cedar and Blaisdell around 38th Street south. No answer at either place, so I'm wondering if power is out in that area.

The area around 41st S. and Portland is being evacuated because of a gas leak. People have to leave on foot so as not to do anything which might cause sparks. Watch out for those downed lines!!
 
Wow, the weather has been bad here too. A tornado hit Beaumont yesterday, flipping cars, damaging stores, and injuring several people.

I hope everyone in Minneapolis is OK.
 
Yeah, David I thought of you yesterday when I saw what had happened in Beaumont. As for the Minnie people please do check in.
 
My sister and family

live near MSP airport, and Mall of America, and they are fine. A few limbs, and some shingles from their screen porch.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
I'm okay here. I was riding back with a friend to Hastings, which is southeast of Minneapolis, when all this came through. Interestingly enough, my friend lives in south Minneapolis close to where much of the damage occurred. There was another tornado about a mile north of Hastings that tore up parts of the St. Paul suburb of Cottage Grove. If we would've taken Highway 61 back to Hastings, we would've drove right into this. Good thing we didn't.....
 
I'm still not getting through to either party in south Minneapolis by landline or cell, so I'm assuming they still have no power.

Sounds like there wasn't a lot of major structural damage; mostly trees and power lines and light poles. In fact, much of the big damage appears to have been done by falling trees and poles. Lots of shingle and siding damage; many cars crushed under trees.

Lawrence, glad to hear your sister's place didn't sustain any major damage.

Rob, glad you weren't on Hwy. 61! Sitting in a car stuck in traffic is not where you want to be in a severe storm.
 
I think are some issues in that immediate area, Frig. I have heard a couple reports of people cleaning up water out of their basement (hopefully Robert or my old roommate who also lives a few blocks from Robert are not one of these as well). OTOH, a friend who lives down by Minnehaha Park just posted pics on Facebook from the park, and the "rain-enriched" falls. Still another had an interesting experience working in the Wells Fargo office in So Mpls where Honeywell used to be...
 
Talking to Robert & Fred right now, they are fine and the house is OK, a few shingles and the back fence blew down. Trees are down all over, power is out but should back on sometime tonight.

He said the tree damage is just incredible. For having a tornado in the neighborhood, they were very, very lucky. The tornado was very weak, the damage is mostly from the falling limbs and uprooted trees.

It wasn't as far North as Don S (Jetaction).
 
I just received an e-mail from Scott55405, formerly of Mpls., and his friend who works in the Wells Fargo office in south Mpls. said he thinks a small tornado hit the building this afternoon.

He told Scott the lights flickered, then they could see debris and birds swirling around. The office windows started to bow in and out, their boss told them to move to the center of the building and then it passed.

Scott has some photos from his friend and said the would probably be posting them here, later.

My friend Robyn works in the same building, and I'm sure she was freaked out! I'm still not able to reach her by cell or landline, nor am I able to reach my friend Tom by landline (he has no cell).

News photos of the neighborhood show a lot of large trees down all over the place.
 
I hope everyone is OK. Just watching the new tonight, and a storm is heading our way (Round 3) from Des Moines, and could be very severe.
 
YAY!!! I finally got through to my friend Robyn. Her house isn't damaged and power is back on.

This is the killer part: She was in the bathroom at work when the tornado struck. She could hear a lot of commotion, and then she heard something strike the building, but by the time she got out of the bathroom, it was all over. I told her it was probably the safest place she could have been!

One of her co-workers said a large car bumper had flown skyward and hit the building---that's the "thunk" she heard. Some windows blew out of the building and one of the entrance/exits to the parking lot was blocked by debris. Her car has some scars, but didn't flip over or anything.

Our friend Tom is with her, so he's safe, too. His house is in a more heavily damaged area, and, obviously, there is no electricity there. He said it's a huge mess and a big tangle of downed trees and power lines.

Just in case Scott doesn't post this photo, I'll put the one he sent me. This was sent to him by a friend who happens to work in the same building as Robyn. She works on the 5th floor. I don't know which floor Scott's friend works on.

Frigilux++8-19-2009-23-21-53.jpg.png
 
Glad to hear everyone so far made out pretty much okay, thats saying a lot with bad weather breakouts from Mn to Tx. Be careful out there. Is the bridge in the picture the one that replaced the one that collapsed? Scotts frined is BRAVE that is one nasty looking storm.
 
This is what I came home to last year after High Holidays - Pride weekend in Minneapolis.

We take these storms pretty much in stride in the Midwest where thunderstorms often bring high winds, hail and torrential downpours. 40 mile an hour winds are just "breezy"

gansky1++8-20-2009-00-54-53.jpg
 
Minnesota

I need to try a little case this morning then am "headed for the lake" (Little Crow Lake Region north of Willmar) for some sailing and disc golf. Hope there is no damage.
 
Still no power, so many of power poles were knocked down in the alleyways. The video link is two blocks from our house and its typical of what a lot of the neighborhood looks like. Thankfully we are fine and so is the house, the washers and the vacuums. The roof will need some repair and so will the fence but that's what insurance is for.

What is amazing is how the storm took out so many huge trees but not one house had any major damaged by the tornado alone. All of the major damage to houses was caused by huge trees falling on them. Its a testament to 1920s and 1930s built houses. I'm not so sure if a new housing development would have faired so well...

http://www.startribune.com/video/53739902.html
 
Glad to hear that everyone up in the Cities faired the storm. The southern branch of the same storm came through Waterloo around 4 PM yesterday. No major issues or damages here. A few tornadoes were spotted up by the MN/Iowa border later in the afternoon.

Back in July I took a weekend off and went up for a quick visit to see Don. While the weather was cool and beautiful up in Coon Rapids a horrible storm came through Cedar Falls/Waterloo, causing similar damage to what happened in Minneapolis. Thankfully I didn't have any trees down but many neighbors did.

I love the Midwest!

Ben
 
Glad to hear everyone is alright! I guess were are pretty lucky in this part of Canada that we don't have violent weather in summer... We just have ice storms in winter!
Here's hoping that you are all spared any further bad weather and the damage it can bring!
 
Robert those pictures are just incredible. I can’t imagine how much force it took to bring down those established trees. I am thankful (and I know you are) that no one was apparently hurt. About two weeks ago we had a mild storm that toppled a tree on a moving vehicle, the driver was badly injured. I hope the clean up goes smoothly and it is not so hot slowing things down.
 
Here, we get some fierce wind storms.

Last Fall the wind was so high it ripped a slate from the roof. While falling toward the ground, a gust caught it and sent it smashing through a second floor window. Thankfully, the house was built in 1892 (Original slate roof and windows). $10.00 and about an hour of work later, my housemate had installed a new pane of glass. Our old single pane windows aren't that energy efficient, but thy are inexpensive and easy to repair and maintain, and they just last and last and last! Whatever energy savings we could achieve by replacing the windows is negated by the cheap maintenance and repair, and extreme longevity of the old ones.

New windows tend to last only 15-25 years (it's in my thesis) but our old ones are going on 118 years and still doing just fine!

I'm glad everyone out in Minnie is ok and that nothing irreplaceable was lost or damaged. Plant some new trees and as long as you have to repair your homes, take advantage of the opportunity to do some maintenance too (I've been meaning to clean those gutters, paint that X, etc.).

As George Carlin said, "If you don't like the weather, move!"
Dave
 
Glad to hear everyone is ok.

Looks like there will be lots of free firewood this winter.
 
Be very careful when filing claims with your insurance company for things like fences and light damage to your roof. Most insurance companies consider these "nusiance" claims and can lead to policy cancellation.

When Ike came through here it knocked down one of my fences. I contacted the agent and we determined the damage was about $1200.
She said the company would pay, but that they would probably cancel me later. She said home owner insurance is for things that are pretty major, like the roof being torn off completely, fire burning your house down completely, etc. We have never had any claims with our homeowners, but companies are getting really picky, especially here on the Texas Gulf Coast.

BTW, I replaced the fence myself for a cost of about $300. and an entire weekend. It was actually kind of fun to do.
 
> She said home owner insurance is for things that are pretty major, like the roof being torn off completely, fire burning your house down completely, etc. <

That's ridiculous. Homeowner's insurance has a deductible, and any damage over that amount is a valid claim.

If an insurance company cancels a policy over a $1200 claim, that's their business. They'll almost certainly lose much more than that in premiums for that policy over the following years.
 
I explained the damage to my insurance agent this morning and he said not to worry it will all be covered.

In my last house about 9 years ago we had a hail storm that did some relatively minor damage to my 20 year old roof at that time and they replaced the entire roof. This is the same agent and policy just a new address. But we will see.
 
WOW... That is very SCARY!

I had no idea Minneapolis ever experienced tornados! I'm very pleased to hear everyone is safe and OK!
 

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