Anoka, Minnesota Tornado
June 18, 1939
Anoka Tornado Takes Nine Lives; 250 Homes
Ruined.
200 Are Injured; State Sends Aid to Stricken
Area
Gov. Stassen Makes Personal Survey of
Tornado-devastated Area Pledging Full resources
of State Will Be Made Available in Emergency
ANOKA, Minn. -- (UP) Under the personal
direction of Gov.
HAROLD E. STASSEN, this Mississippi
river town of 5,000 to-day began the task of
rehabilitation in the wake of a roaring tornado
which had claimed at least nine lives.
STASSEN came here within a few hours after
the storm struck, and took full charge of caring
for the injured and homeless, clearing the
debris from the streets, and beginning the work
of rebuilding. Early today he reported:
The situation is now under control. He said
all resources of the state would be made
available in the emergency.
Authorities said the storm injured more than
200, perhaps a score seriously, and estimated
property loss at about $500,000.
Three hundred national guardsmen, under
direction of
Adjutant-General ELLARD A. WALSH,
patrolled the streets. The town was, in effect
under martial law. A drastic 9 p. m. curfew kept
the streets cleared during the night.
Early resumption of normal water, electric
and telephone services was promised. Utility
companies kept large crews of men at work
throughout the night.
FIVE MINUTES DEVASTATING FURY
The tornado struck with sudden fury at 3:28
p. m. yesterday. Moving from the southwest to
northeast, the towering, black, funnel-shaped
cloud first struck near Corcoran, a small
village a few miles southwest of Anoka. It hit a
car in which four Minneapolis persons were
riding, tossed it 200 yards into a field,
killing several of the occupants. It dipped
again at
Champlin, killed one man, wrecked
several buildings and swept on to Anoka where it
cut a swath two to five blocks wide diagonally
through the town. At least 50 square blocks felt
the force of the storm. Five persons were
killed.
With lessened force, the twister struck at
Cedar, a few miles to the northeast, before
dissolving. A farmer living near Cedar was
plucked from his barnyard a dashed to death half
a mile away.
250 ANOKA HOMES DESTROYED
In little more than five minutes the Tornado
had run its course but it left behind, in the
heavy rain which followed, a scene of terrible
confusion.
In Anoka, the armory, two churches, the
Masonic temple, several business buildings and
about 250 homes were destroyed or partially
wrecked. Electric and telephone lines were a
tangle of broken wires....
It was difficult to estimate the number of
homeless. Many houses in the path of the twister
were not completely wrecked and could be
occupied.
STASSEN
promised that money would be taken from state
relief funds to care for those left homeless
pending rehabilitation. The Red Cross was
providing warm fool and sleeping room for many.
Name Emergency Committee
A special emergency committee was appointed
to direct rehabilitation work. Its members are
E. J. BELL,
secretary of Anoka Commercial club,
ROBERT EHLEN, GEORGE
GREEN, and GRAYDON COLBURN, Anoka
business men.
All eyewitnesses to the disaster emphasized the
sudden fury with which the tornado struck. There
was no time, they said, to seek the safety of
cellars and basements.
Saw Tornado Strike
JOSEPHINE BRANT,
18, Minneapolis, saw the twister strike. With
her parents, she had been on a fishing trip, and
was approaching Anoka on the return trip.
I saw the funnel strike the edge of the town
and then sweep on through. It moved with
terrific speed. I could see timbers being thrown
into the air, and buildings falling. Some
timbers were carried as high as 300 feet into
the air.
Entering the town, MISS BRANT saw druggists
passing out first-aid kits without charge, men
and women seeking frantically for missing
relatives, the injured being taken to the
hospital by dozens.
The streets were full of broken glass, trees
blown down, wires hanging in tangles, she said.
It was an awful sight an I'll never forget it.
Draws Up Water
J. T. SWISHER,
maintenance man out to repair a line, stopped 50
feet from the funnel of the tornado, and watched
it draw up a half-mile column of water from the
Mississippi river in a great steam-like cloud.
List of Dead In Anoka Tornado
ANOKA, Minn. (U.P.) -- List of
casualties in the Anoka tornado:
H. G. GROAT,
95, Anoka.
EDWARD MORRISETTE, 60, Anoka.
G. SYRING, Anoka.
LEE KIDD, 25, Osseo.
FRED ZIMMERMAN, 50, Champlin.
EMIL JOHNSON, 40, Cedar.
MRS. ANNA FREEMAN, 76, Minneapolis.
JAMES BRADLEY, her son-in-law,
Minneapolis.
MRS. JAMES BRADLEY, daughter of MRS.
FREEMAN.
ELLEN FREEMAN, another daughter.
MRS. FREEMAN, her son-in-law and
daughter were the group killed near Corcoran
when the tornado crushed their car.
The Brainerd Daily Dispatch Minnesota
1939-06-19
Submitted & transcribed by Stu
Beitler Thank you,
Stu!
More than 220 people were injured and nine
killed in the Champlin area on June 18, 1939
(2PM).
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