My sister is a government housing inspector for another city who was one of those called in to do the initial assessment. Called me because the tornado passed two blocks east of the house I sold in 2003 after living there for over 11 years.
This is the poorest part of Minneapolis and thus, the poorest area in the state. There are houses and empty or abandoned buildings that will probably have to be torn down, because the owners will never be able to repair them, even if they do not have sufficient structural damage to straight out condemn them.
My friends renovated a home just a block from some of the damage. They sold it just before the bottom dropped out of the market. Happily, the house is okay and the new owners weren’t caught outside. The damage to the neighborhood is pretty extensive though. I hope the city can find a way to bring up the area. The storm may turn into a boon, considering all the foreclosed rental property in the area.
My condolences to those who had so little in the first place and now have less or even nothing.
Holy crap. I was already glad I got out when I did and that I made as much money as I did on that house, but I just went to www.edinarealty.com and checked out the old neighborhood. I’m absolutely floored by the number of properties within about 5 blocks of my old house (35th & Logan N) that are being virtually Clearance Sale’d at under $20k. I wouldn’t have imagined that in my wildest dreams.
I spent about 25 minutes from around 6:50pm EST until 7:15pm in my storage room tonight in SE Indiana with my family (concrete floor, ceiling, foundation walls) cowering and hoping for the best. We had a serious storm and a tornado warning during that time. There are trees down all over the place. Sirens were wailing, hail was raining down…it was a pretty strong storm.
I hope any Minny Dopers are well from the carnage.
The City is saying 600 buildings damaged, 35 houses will have to be razed. Many of the houses are rentals, I’m guessing most tenants did not bother with renters insurance. As it is, many of those streets are missing houses thanks to the razing of drug houses - some streets will be nigh on empty.
My mom, up in Brooklyn Park, has random 2x4’s and shingles in her yard - not from her house, though. She has no clue where they came from. A friend down in the “zone” escaped without damage, but her next door neighbor lost her roof and car.
I live about a mile from Broadway and Penn, in Robbinsdale. We heard the sirens and such, but didn’t have any damage. The power went out, but only for a minute or so, and has been back on ever since.
We’ve got a tree in our backyard with a trunk about a foot in diameter - no idea of its age, but it’s a well-established tree. Was really weird seeing its trunk swaying in the wind. The branches, sure - they sway frequently. But you could visibly see the main trunk swaying just slightly, maybe 2-3 inches from usual. That’s a big wind.
Oddly enough, we didn’t hear the tornado, and I thought we’d be close enough to hear it. A tornado passed close to my parents house yonks ago when I was there, and it really does sound like a freight train.
Heck, I’m thinking many of the house owners might not have bothered with homeowner’s insurance, if they didn’t have to.
Heard that BLO looks like a bomb went off in front of it.
I’m barely a mile away from you, Snickers, in Crystal (off 42nd/Douglas) and got bupkus. Not even a branch down. I mean, it rained, but that was it. No high winds, no hail.
A friend is a Minneapolis cop, said cops were being shot at while doing safe checks and that there was gun fire in BLO during the looting. Ironically, he was NOT called in, but my BIL who is a reserve nearby was called to Fridley for assistance. Go figure.
My mother is in Golden Valley and I have a friend in Robbinsdale who were not affected at all, but a guy I know in Brooklyn Center had some heavy wind damage.
South of the river here and all we had were buckets and buckets of rain. I have a wet basement floor but, happily, I have not yet completely repaired it from last year’s damage.
And it’s in this old brick building on a corner, rather like the famous slanty building in New York City (that I can’t remember the name of right now), but much less grand. BLO’s been there forever, and is something of an institution.
Of course, I’ve never actually been. Heard it has…or had, rather…a pretty good selection.