Fridley Tornado, 1965

On the night of May 6, 1965, two F4 tornadoes cut through the northwest Twin Cities metro area. Known collectively as the Fridley tornado, these twisters were the worst cyclonic disaster to hit the Twin Cities to date.

On the evening of May 6, 1965, Twin Cities residents knew that there was going to be a storm. They just didn’t know how devastating it would turn out to be. When Fridley residents saw the sky turning dark green and spotted baseball-sized hail raining down around 7:00 pm, they called their kids inside. Eyewitness accounts describe the air smelling of sulfur. Many who were children at the time later remembered putting large pieces of hail in their refrigerators.

At 7:06 pm, the first tornado touched down in southwestern Fridley. Over the next fifteen minutes, it cut a 6.8-mile path to the northeast and dissipated in Blaine. This tornado was an F4 classification—the second-most powerful category of storm on the Fujita scale. The most common shared experience that people later remembered was hearing the deafening, train-like noise that accompanied the tornadoes.

By the end of the storm, there were three fatalities and 175 injuries. People emerged from their destroyed homes and helped others who were trapped in rubble or injured. However, they did not have much time to do so before a second tornado appeared.

This second tornado touched down in Golden Valley at 8:14 pm. It travelled for 17.3 miles from there through Fridley and Mounds View before dissipating west of Centerville at 9:02 pm. The second tornado was also an F4 storm; this time, there were six fatalities and 158 injuries. Although many homes were mostly destroyed, that night people gathered together with their neighbors and slept in basements and cars that were still intact.

In total, the damage caused by the two tornadoes that passed through Fridley was $14.5 million dollars. Approximately 1,100 homes and businesses were damaged. 425 were destroyed. Most of Hayes Elementary School (later renamed Fridley Elementary School) and Fridley Junior High was destroyed; students finished the three weeks remaining in the school year in Northfield. World War II veterans likened the state of their town to that of an artillery-shelled battlefield. The unidentified driver of a white van, masquerading as a Red Cross volunteer, rode around and stole appliances. The looting was stopped when the National Guard was stationed in Fridley on May 7.

The next weeks saw the community come together to clean up damaged properties and house and feed people. The sight and sound of chainsaws cutting up fallen trees were common during the summer that followed.

Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale, and Minnesota Governor Karl Rolvaag came to Fridley soon after the disaster. Local residents appreciated Rolvaag's visit, but some criticized Humphrey and Mondale for their relatively late arrival. Humphrey and Mondale, they contended, had come to town only to take pictures and present themselves favorably for the news. One Fridleyite later referred to the two politicians as “the vultures” for failing to do enough to help people impacted by the storm. This was in stark contrast to reaction to Governor Rolvaag and the Canadian volunteer workers, who helped clean up the destruction. As much as the tornadoes caused destruction, they also inspired a strong sense of community among local residents.