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2024 Hennepin County All -Jurisdiction Hazard Mitigation Plan <br />Volume 2 — Hazard Inventory <br />July 23-24,1987, Super Storm <br />The heaviest rainfall ever officially recorded at a Twin Cities weather station fell between about <br />18:00 CDT on 23 July and about 02:00 CDT on 24 July 1987. During this eight -hour interval, <br />observers at the Twin Cities International airport station measured an even ten inches of rain (9.15 <br />inches of which fell in a five -hour period). In addition to the heavy rainfall, the 23-24 July storm <br />spawned an F3 tornado near Goose Lake in Hennepin County and produced extensive damage in <br />Maple Grove and Brooklyn Park. Damage in other areas was extensive, largely the result of flooded <br />homes and businesses, ruptured storm sewers, and washed out or inundated streets and <br />highways. Two flood related deaths were reported, and property damage was estimated to be in <br />excess of $30 million (1987 dollars). <br />The 23-24 July storms occurred along an outflow boundary that had separated extremely warm, <br />moist air to the south and east and much cooler, drier air immediately to the north and west. The <br />interaction of these air masses produced intense thunderstorms with extremely heavy rainfall <br />over the southwestern portion of the Twin Cities on 20-21 July 1987, two days prior to the 23-24 <br />July outbreak. Rainfall amounts during this event included 3.83 inches at the Twin Cities airport <br />station, 9.75 inches near Shakopee and 7.83 inches at the neighboring community of Chaska. <br />The 23-24 and 20-21 July storms, together with the rainfall produced by thunderstorms earlier <br />and later in the month, brought unprecedented July rainfall to the Twin Cities area. <br />The International airport station recorded 17.91 inches, approximately six times the July normal. <br />An unofficial monthly total of 19.27 inches was recorded in west Bloomington. <br />Ironically, July 1987's excessive rainfall came in the middle of a prolonged period of subnormal <br />precipitation. Precipitation had been below normal for every month from October 1986 through <br />June 1987 and, following about six weeks of wet weather in July -August 1987, the drought <br />returned. Extreme dryness prevailed during much of the ensuing year with a near record dry June <br />and record warmth during the summer of 1988. <br />July 1,1997, Derecho and Flood <br />An intense mesoscale system containing supercells and a fast-moving squall line tore through the <br />central and northern Twin Cities area during the evening, producing extensive wind damage and <br />catastrophic flooding. Numerous tornadoes rated up to F3, were reported from the Willmar area, <br />through Wright and Sherburne Counties. Non-tornadic winds more than 100 mph knocked out <br />power, severely damaged structures, and snapped and uprooted trees in Wright, Anoka, <br />Sherburne, and northern Hennepin counties. <br />As the storm complex moved into the central portions of the Twin Cities, it produced some of the <br />heaviest one -hour rainfall ever measured in Minnesota. 3-4 inches fell within one hour over the <br />central and eastern parts of Hennepin County, as well as adjacent portions of Ramsey and Anoka <br />counties. 1-35 and 1-94 were closed south of downtown Minneapolis and standing water more <br />than 10 feet in some areas prompted boat rescues in south Minneapolis and Richfield. Edison High <br />School in northeast Minneapolis sustained major flood damage, and hundreds of homes and <br />residential complexes were severely damaged by inundation. <br />122 <br />