4 days ago
Looking back at the Granite Falls tornado, 25 years later
Twenty-five years ago, on July 25, 2000, the town of Granite Falls in western Minnesota was hit hard by a devastating tornado.
Hundreds of homes were damaged, one man died and more than a dozen people were taken to the hospital.
"It sounds just like a freight train, just like what they talk about," said Steve Nordaune.
Nordaune is the mayor of Granite Falls. But on July 25, 2000, he was a first-term council member. Just after 6 that night, Nordaune and his family ran to their basement just as the tornado hit.
"You just can't run somewhere fast enough to get somewhere to hide," said Nordaune. "I didn't know what to expect and I came up and looked out and the block across from us was completely leveled, basically. We had about 350 homes that were affected. That's about 30% of the community."
The F4 tornado mangled semis and produced windspeeds that reached nearly 260 miles an hour. Its path of destruction was 2 miles long and 500 feet wide. Fourteen people were taken to the hospital.
At a park near Ninth Avenue and 16th Street, there's a monument for Arly Swanson. He's an 82-year-old retired farmer who was the only fatality of the Granite Falls tornado.
A WCCO story from back then showed Swanson's truck upside down on his property. The only thing left standing at his house were the front steps.
"I noticed that it looked kind of funny outside," said Phil Kelly.
In 2000, Kelly was the executive director at Project Turnabout, a nonprofit that helps people with alcohol and drug addiction. They had just completed a million-dollar renovation when they found themselves in the direct path of the storm.
"I could see then what looked like a tornado. I'd never been in one before," said Kelly.
They hid in an inner room as the tornado tore off the roof. Kelly was one of the people who was injured.
"I got a cut and had about seven or eight stitches there," said Kelly while pointing at his hand.
It took a few years, but Project Turnabout rebuilt and so did the rest of Granite Falls. Still, it's a day the town will never forget.
"It's hard to describe until you've been through it one time," said Nordaune.
Kelly said he's thankful for his staff that day and that everyone at Project Turnabout made it out safely. In addition to the tornado in 2000, Granite Falls experienced major flooding in 1997 and again in 2001.
