A tornado struck, and Minneapolis responded
One week after a tornado struck Minneapolis, City crews completed the scheduled collection of large tree debris in the affected areas. The work capped a week of activity by many City departments, both during the storm, in its immediate aftermath, and in the days following.
The tornado—by the numbers
- City inspectors have determined about 450 structures were damaged by the storm, although no homes were damaged enough to require them to be vacated.
- The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board estimates about 250 boulevard trees were downed by the storm.
- The Minneapolis 911 Center handled about 150 calls, dispatching emergency responders as needed during storm and in its aftermath.
- From the time the first storm-related 911 call was dispatched, it took just 30 seconds for the first police officer to arrive on scene. Within the next several minutes, Police, Fire, Public Works, and Park Board Forestry were in the area proactively addressing storm-related issues.
- In the hours following the storm, Minneapolis Police went door-to-door at all properties on more than 100 city blocks in the storm zone, looking for anyone who may have been hurt. No injuries were reported in south Minneapolis as a result of the tornado.
- Calls to Minneapolis 311 doubled during the storm as agents answered questions from residents and took service requests for things like blocked alleys and streets, and broken street lights and traffic signals. The 311 center had 200 more calls than normal for a Wednesday in August.
-
Minneapolis added a new tool to its emergency response communications efforts, sending out five updates the day of the storm to the City's Twitter feed. The City has more than 2,000 people who get Twitter updates from the City. The City's five updates were forwarded on by our Twitter followers 75 times, and the City gained
100 new followers on Twitter the day of the storm.
Aug. 27, 2009
Published Aug. 27, 2009