Roundup: Tornado Coverage Across Patch
Sites across the Twin Cities west metro told stories of their communities' experiences.
Throughout Sunday's storm and its aftermath, Patch sites in local communities covered everything—through text, video and photo galleries—from the original tornado warnings to efforts to volunteer efforts to help those hardest hit.
In St. Louis Park, where the tornado first touched down, Patch wrote about initial damage caused by the storm, as well as a gas leak at a manufacturing plant. The next day, residents told their stories of survival as electricity was restored.
In Golden Valley, people told of hiding in basements as roofs flew by their windows. The next day, still dealing with some electricity outages, Patch showed the extensive damage to Theodore Wirth Park and neighboring homes.
Fridley suffered tremendous damage on the evening of the storm, which tore trees out by the roots.
As we started to get a better idea of the magnitude of the tornado, people from across the state focused volunteer efforts and donations to help communities on North Minneapolis. Minneapolis also declared a state of emergency, and legislative leaders of both parties said they were willing to call a special session to deal with the disaster. U.S. Sen. Keith Ellison toured the hardest-hit communities, vowing to convince FEMA to provide assistance.
In most places hit by the storm, people quickly started clean-up, collecting fallen branches and cleaning yards on their own, a process that will still take a while in some areas. Authorities urge people to donate to the Red Cross or Minneapolis Foundation.
