Deadly tornado crashes through north Minneapolis (Star Tribune)

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May 22, 2011: Deadly tornado crashes through north Minneapolis Article by: BILL McAULIFFE, RANDY FURST, PAUL WALSH and HERON MARQUEZ ESTRADA Star Tribune May 18, 2012 - 3:15 PM Two days of threatening skies turned furious over the Twin Cities on Sunday, unleashing at least three tornado touchdowns in the metro area, killing one person in Minneapolis, injuring at least 30 others, knocking out power to thousands and leading to a curfew and school closings in north Minneapolis. The massive, slow-moving storm also caused major damage in other metro communities, most significantly St. Louis Park and Fridley.

Tornado damage was extensive in the neighborhood near Clearview and Hughes in Columbia Heights. Two trees came down on Theresa Pyka's home and two vehicles. "I'm alive, what can you do?" she said. Richard Tsong-Taatarii, Star Tribune

In the hardest-hit area, Minneapolis' Jordan neighborhood, downed trees, snapped power lines and pieces of roofs littered streets and yards. The smell of natural gas led police to call people out of some homes. Roads were blocked and residents scrambled to find loved ones; close to 200 or so people displaced by the storm made their way to an emergency shelter at the Northeast Armory, near Broadway and Central Avenue. Mayor R.T. Rybak described the damage as "widespread and significant" after he and City Council President Barbara Johnson viewed it from a helicopter. Rybak and Police Chief Tim Dolan said Sunday night that the three-day 9 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew was imposed to help emergency workers move around and to prevent looting of damaged homes and businesses. At 9 p.m., commercial streets in north Minneapolis were all but deserted, although countless people continued working on fixing their homes in residential areas. Police reported no major problems. Just after the storm, about 22,000 Xcel Energy customers across the metro area were without power; by 8 p.m., that number had been cut roughly in half. Lack of electricity forced the emergency command center to be moved twice, and it ended up just across the Minneapolis border in Fridley. Xcel officials indicated that most power should be restored by midnight Monday but that some customers may not get it back until Tuesday or later because of significant structural damage to that area's electricity system. The Hennepin County medical examiner's office said one person died near 37th and Fremont Avenues N. No details about that person or the circumstances of the death were immediately available, although there were reports that it was a man whose car was hit by a tree. Also, 30 people were taken to hospitals. Two were critically hurt, 12 had moderate injuries and 15 minor injuries. Six public schools in the storm-damaged area of north Minneapolis -- Lucy Laney, Cityview, Nellie Stone Johnson, Hmong International Academy, Northstar and Plymouth Youth Center -- will be closed Monday, said Heather Peters, a Minneapolis schools spokeswoman. Other district schools will remain open. The curfew covers an area from Interstate 94 west to Penn Avenue N. and from Plymouth Avenue N. to Dowling Avenue N. Residents were told to stay in their homes "for their own safety," city spokesman Matt Laible said. "We don't want any looting," Dolan said. "There's property strewn all over. There are wires down. There's not much lighting.

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