Minnesota Declares Emergency in Wake of Record Rain

Gov. Rudy Perpich declared a state of emergency across Minnesota on Friday as residents struggled to clean up after storms that spawned tornadoes and record rain, killing two people and damaging hundreds of homes.

Meanwhile, a stifling heat wave blamed for at least seven deaths sent temperatures soaring to record highs from the Rocky Mountains to Maine and trapped so much pollution over the nation’s capital that the government warned breathing was “unhealthful.”

High temperature records were broken in 18 cities across 12 states and the District of Columbia. It was a record 97 degrees at Washington-Dulles International Airport and a record 94 in New York City. A 100-degree reading in Macon, Ga., failed to set a record.

300 Houses Damaged

In Minnesota, a tornado spinning 160-m.p.h. winds had roared through Maple Grove on Thursday night, causing $5 million in damage to up to 300 houses. Telephone and power outages were widespread. The airport was closed for almost eight hours, and hundreds of cars were stranded throughout the area.

The rain shattered a 95-year-old record, leaving 10 inches at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Thursday night and Friday morning. The old record of 7.8 inches was set in July, 1892, and normal rainfall for the whole month of July is 3.5 inches.

The two deaths were blamed on the rainfall.

“It was an incredible storm system,” said Jim Campbell, head meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Minneapolis. He said the heat wave that has held the eastern third of the nation in a sweaty grip for the last week was a factor, because of a front dividing it from cooler air to the north.

N.Y. Power Use Hits Record

The heat drove power consumption to an all-time high in New York on Thursday, breaking the previous record set July 13.

Record temperatures were broken or tied in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Maryland, West Virginia, Maine, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Virginia, Florida, Arizona, Colorado and the District of Columbia.

The front between the air masses stalled over the Twin Cities metropolitan area, allowing the long hours of heavy rain, Campbell said.

“I think the Lord is sending down the great flood--I’m just waiting for Noah’s ark to come floating by,” said Robert Wise, 21, of Minneapolis, who was stranded in a restaurant after his car stalled on a flooded street.

Some interstates in the area remained closed Friday because of flooding, and hundreds of vehicles that stalled or were caught in the storms Thursday night remained in ditches and along roadsides.

The heavy rain forced many companies to close for part or all of the day.

Residents Take Shelter

The tornadoes began moving in Thursday night, causing the most damage but only minor injuries, in Maple Grove. Civil defense sirens sounded 20 minutes beforehand, giving people time to take shelter.

The Minneapolis Fire Department responded to nearly 100 calls about collapsed basements, said David Williams, communications supervisor with the city’s emergency 911 headquarters.

The body of a 79-year-old man was found in the basement of his south Minneapolis home Friday morning after the wall caved in, police said.

In Hopkins, authorities found the body of a 27-year-old man who apparently got out of his stranded car and was swept into a creek by floodwaters.

The tornado destroyed as many as 10 houses.