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Interactive map: Tornado's path and lingering toll

  • By: Raymond Grumney | Data analysis by Chris Havens, Jane Friedmann and James Eli Shiffer
  • Updated: May 21, 2012 - 8:44 AM

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When the tornado struck

  • A tornado ripped through north Minneapolis shortly after 2 p.m. on May 22, 2011.
  • About 3,700 of the area’s 7,000 properties sustained damage.
  • One person died in the storm, and another person died while helping to clean up. About 50 people were injured, but none seriously.
  • More than 250 people had to stay in a shelter that night.
  • About 6,000 trees in parks and boulevards were destroyed.
  • The National Weather Service rated the tornado as an EF1, which carries winds of 86 to 111 miles per hour.
  • The twister, a half-mile wide at its widest point, moved along a northeasterly path for about 3.5 miles in north Minneapolis.
  

Progress and struggles

  • One year later, the vast majority of tornado-damaged buildings have either been repaired or demolished. Still, some sit in various states of disrepair, bogging down the momentum of a community looking to rebuild and revitalize.
  • The city of Minneapolis issued about 1,000 orders to property owners to make repairs. More than 820 of those have been resolved.
  • Nearly 2,900 repair permits were issued, and nearly $30 million in repair work has occurred or is in process.
  • About $1.9 million in loans and assistance has been made available to those affected by the storm by city, state and federal governments.
  • City crews spent much of 2011 fixing damaged infrastructure, including repairing 1,600 sidewalk panels, replacing 350 traffic signs and restoring traffic signals at 25 intersections.
Methodology: This map includes four categories of properties, derived from data provided by the city of Minneapolis that’s current as of late April: City purchased for demolition; unrepaired roof or structural damage but still believed to be occupied; tornado-damaged and declared vacant and condemned since May 22, 2011; vacant with unrepaired roof or structural damage.

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