MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports on impact of ferocious storms that hit the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The wind and rain downed trees and power lines across much of Northeastern Minnesota. Residents of Hibbing were assessing flood damage, while resorters on the Gunflint Trail were taking stock of damaged buildings.
Kelleher interviews residents and officials about storm and it’s aftermath.
The Boundary Waters–Canadian Derecho (also called the Boundary Waters Blowdown), produced straight-line winds of up to 100 mph, which uprooted and toppled nearly 500,000 acres of the BWCA's trees in a massive blowdown. It began in Fargo mid-morning on July 4, 1999, and plowed at a northeasterly angle across the state. It mowed across northeastern Minnesota, crossed into Canada, and fizzled out in Maine the following morning, traveling 1,300 miles and lasting 22 hours.
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BOB KELLEHER: Mickey and Doug Scott own a cabin on Clearwater Lake just off the Gunflint trail. Mickey Scott says she saw a low green, dark sky just before the storm hit Sunday.
MICKEY SCOTT: Within a matter of five minutes, a huge wind picked up, and the lake just became boiling. It was amazing. And we just couldn't even see across the lake any longer. And trees just kept coming down and kept coming down. We lost every large tree on our property.
BOB KELLEHER: The storm packed straight-line winds and dropped six inches of rain, wreaking havoc from the Iron Range to Lake Superior's north shore. Flash flooding damaged homes and undermined roads across Minnesota's three most northeastern counties. Further heavy rain Monday compounded the problems.
Most of those injured were campers struck by falling trees as they huddled under canoes or in tents in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. By this morning, 19 had been airlifted from the wilderness for medical treatment, one listed in serious condition. Around 2,000 people were in the BWCAW when the storm hit. US Forest Service spokesman Mark Van Every says a team in Ely is coordinating the search for injured.
MIKE VAN EVERY: In some cases, we've been contacted by folks who have radio contact or cell phones out there with them in the wilderness, but also by flying over if there is a problem, people have been signaling us as we pass over the area. If we do find a campsite that appears to have been heavily impacted by downed trees but no one's around, we've been setting down just to make sure that there's no one there that's injured that needs help.
BOB KELLEHER: Helicopters and float planes join the rescue operations mounted by Laken Cook County sheriff's departments. Rescue crews have special dispensation to use chainsaws normally banned in the wilderness area. Van Every says helping the injured is just the first step.
MIKE VAN EVERY: Then we'll be working to try to clear a path for those folks that may be blocked in by portages that are clogged with downed trees so that they can get on out of the wilderness.
BOB KELLEHER: Van Every says the Forest Service in Ely is also trying to help people, calling about family members and friends camping in the wilderness at the time of the storm.
MIKE VAN EVERY: At this point, we don't have a lot of specific information on individuals who may be out in the wilderness, so folks are certainly welcome to call with questions, but we're just asking that they exercise some patience, and we'll try to provide information as quickly as we can.
BOB KELLEHER: The Boundary Waters remain open, although access may be very difficult due to trees which have fallen onto campsites and canoe portages. Van Every advises new visitors to the wilderness to first call the forest service in Ely to see if their planned trip is possible. Meanwhile, the struggle to restore other services continues.
In Cook County, officials with the Arrowhead Electric Co-op have helped form three electric cooperatives and private contractors, but say rural customers should expect an extended outage. Arrowhead Electric's Rhonda silence calls it the most extensive storm damage in recent history. Charlotte Eckert Nelson operates the Wendigo Lodge on Poplar Lake about halfway up the Gunflint trail from Grand Marais. Nelson has been without power since Sunday.
CHARLOTTE ECKERT NELSON: We've had windows blow out. The rain came right in. We got them boarded up. Trees everywhere are down. The wind was very, very severe. I wouldn't call it a tornado. I didn't see any funnel cloud at all, but it was very intense wind. Very, very strong. I have heard people comment that it was like 100 miles an hour. It's very, very bad.
BOB KELLEHER: This is the busiest time of the year for Nelson and other resorters along the Gunflint trail. Now they'll be scrambling to put their places back in shape for the rest of the brief summer tourist season. Nelson says the storm emptied her lodge.
CHARLOTTE ECKERT NELSON: Everyone has left. Everyone checked out either right during the storm, they were frightened, or shortly after.
BOB KELLEHER: Nelson says the storm snapped many of the old growth white pines lining the Gunflint trail. State and county road crews have been trying to reopen flooded roads in Cook, Lake, and Saint Louis counties. Highway 61, along Lake Superior's North Shore was under water for a time between Duluth and Two Harbors. The Hibbing and Virginia areas took the worst of the flooding. Officially, there was up to six inches of rain, but unofficial reports are higher. Deputy Saint Louis County public works director Dave Skelton reports extensive damage to county roads.
DAVE SKELTON: There's about a six foot or an eight foot box culvert south of Hibbing that is gone. We haven't found it yet. And we have a series of four bridges over there that are standing high and dry on a particular road. But the approaches are gone. So we have to build the roads to the bridges.
BOB KELLEHER: Some Hibbing area residents remain stranded for a second day Tuesday.
DAVE SKELTON: There are some where their driveways have washed out or the small culvert on the county road accessing their property is washed out. But within a day or so, we should have all of those taken care of.
BOB KELLEHER: In Hibbing and Chisholm, the Red Cross has opened what it calls family services centers. Emergency service director Chris Dahl says they've helped more than 75 people so far.
CHRIS DAHL: Today in both centers, we're assisting them in food, clothing, shelter, giving them vouchers for cleaning supplies. We're also helping out in if anybody lost their beds, chests of drawers, and water heaters.
BOB KELLEHER: Dahl says an early damage report found three homes destroyed, 32 with major damage, and more than 50 with minor damage. Those numbers are likely to increase. Dahl says many victims do not have flood insurance because flooding is rare in the area. The Red Cross is appealing for donations to the disaster relief operation through the Northland chapter Red Cross office in Duluth. He says the Red Cross will likely be working in the area for at least several weeks. In Duluth, I'm Bob Kelleher, Minnesota Public Radio.