Walz tours Bemidji storm damage, praises ‘neighbors helping neighbors’

BEMIDJI - A cacophony of chain saws buzzed in neighborhoods Gov. Tim Walz toured Tuesday, surveying the wake of a severe weekend storm that left thousands without power and wiped out stands of trees.

“We saw a lot of damage,” the governor said, “but I saw a lot of other things. I saw neighbors helping neighbors. I saw professionalism of crews that have restored power to almost every single person.”

Around 1,500 customers were still without power Tuesday compared to 27,000 that lost electricity Saturday, according to outage maps for Otter Tail Power and Beltrami Electric.

Officials declared a state of emergency after straight-line winds up to 120 miles per hour hit the area with a 10-mile-wide path of destruction. It was the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane blowing in from North Dakota, evident from the thousands of downed and uprooted trees pointing east. Despite the disaster and dangerous conditions in the cleanup of tangled power lines and debris, no injuries or deaths were reported.

Unfortunately, Walz said, “our neighbors” in North Dakota lost three lives in the storm. Asked by a Fargo reporter during a news conference on the tour whether he has reached out to Gov. Kelly Armstrong, Walz said he hasn’t. But he acknowledged Minnesota is also still “in a period of mourning” with the murders of Mark and Rep. Melissa Hortman the weekend before the natural disaster.

“But things still go on,” Walz said, adding that it was important for him to meet with residents in Bemidji and witness the damage and recovery.

The aftermath of the storm restored faith in community for many, such as Heather Glime, a mother of two who said before the “post-apocalyptic” mess, she never really talked to her neighbors on Lake Avenue.

“They brought me a cup of hot coffee,” said Glime, 37, her words trailing off as she started to cry. “It’s been devastating. But the community, I mean, people have stopped over. Someone from out of town brought us milk.”

People have also donated more than $1,200 to help get her a new minivan after “trees smashed it” as her 3-year-old son, Malaki, said. His doting sister Amera, 11, said they were her favorite trees, too, but now there is so much more sunlight in their yard.

“It just so weird looking around outside. There’s no shade,” she said. “We only thought one or two trees fell, not every single one.”

Crews for both utility companies and hundreds of linemen descended on the area to restore power. Arborists are busy clearing the way. Landfills are congested from the unprecedented level of debris.

Christopher Muller, Beltrami County Emergency Management director, told Walz that so many trees fell on Lake Avenue that crews brought in snowplows to clear the roadways that were impassible Saturday.

The total cost of damage from the storm will be in the millions of dollars, Muller said.

While touring some of the hardest-hit neighborhoods on the east side of Lake Bemidji, Walz said that he’s concerned about homeowner insurance falling short.

That’s why the Legislature created a disaster assistance contingency account, Walz said, with $24 million that will recharge to $50 million in October.

“Meaning if we don’t meet FEMA’s threshold … we can go to the state and we can make determinations where we’re able to reimburse 75% of the cost to the public infrastructure,” Walz said.

“This is a case where all of Minnesota joins together.”

Emergency management has said the storm damage is not a FEMA-level disaster.

Bemidji Mayor Jorge Prince said the city won’t look the same after the storm.

“Our town was in fact turned upside down,” Prince said when welcoming Walz back to Bemidji. “This may not be exactly the Bemidji you remember, but as far as a community, we are very much the same.”

Beltrami is one of the poorest counties in Minnesota, and it will be a long road to recovery for many, especially those already struggling.

“We do not have the resources or the funds to be able to take care of an issue like this,” said first-term Republican state Rep. Bidal Duran, who lives in Bemidji. “So the state of Minnesota needs to come in here, and it needs to show the support for our community.”

Duran said he’s amazed by the immediate and continued response of local emergency management. But state leaders need to understand, the county has a 17% poverty level and only a 25% taxable land base.

“Beltrami is struggling right now,” he said, “we need to come together as a state to support us.”

Red Lake Tribal Chair Darrell Seki Sr. said power is restored on the reservation just north of Bemidji, but he said 1,500 tribal members live in the city and some remain without power.

White Earth Tribal Chair Michael Fairbanks said the storm didn’t hit the reservation as severely as Bemidji, but the extreme heat had been a concern.

“Our emergency management team kicked in really fast, and we got our elders into a cool area because it was the heat of the weekend,” Fairbanks said, adding that his prayers are with those without power and dealing with damaged homes.

State Sen. Steve Green, R-Fosston, thanked the governor, first responders and tribal leaders for showing up and coming together.

“This is Minnesota,” Green said. “No loss of life is incredible. Praise God for that. And the speed in which this is happening is just unprecedented.”

Evidence of near-misses are everywhere around town, such as trees falling inches from bedrooms and instead landing on garages or between houses. But some small businesses were totaled, such as Thunderbird Graphics, obliterated by the intense winds. Schools such as Northwest Technical College sustained extensive damage from smashed windows, and Bemidji State University will be without dozens of trees when students return in the fall.

Trees left standing hover eerily above roadways, bending in the wind and looking as if they are about to snap.

At L&M Fleet Supply, normally full shelves of chain saws sit empty. Parks typically teeming with tourists in the summer remain closed. Postal delivery is stalled and extremely delayed, especially in rural areas that will take the longest to restore power.

Some residents are still eating dinner by flashlight, such as Ken and Bonnie Wold, both nearing 90 years old and calling 15th Street NW. home for 57 years. The storm knocked a tree onto their front porch, barely missing their bedroom window.

“They fell like dominoes,” Bonnie said of the trees in the neighborhood.

But the birch tree they planted for their 39th wedding anniversary is still standing. Friends delivered them ice. They eat frozen vegetables for dinner and go to bed earlier without the evening news to watch.

They habitually flip light switches on, but so far no luck as they patiently waited Tuesday for their “let there be light” moment to arrive.

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