1886 Sauk Rapids tornado
The tornado in Sauk Rapids from 1886 swept on April 14, 1886 in Sauk Rapids, St. Cloud and Rice in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and destroyed a large part of Sauk Rapids. With 72 people killed, this was the tornado with the most fatalities in Minnesota since records began. On this day, raging tornadoes in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Texas.
Tornado
Around 16:00 clock a tornado, which corresponded approximately to the level 4 of the Fujita scale, through the center of Sauk Rapids. It was one of at least four tornadoes that occurred in the area 15:00 to 17:00 clock on the day. The maximum diameter was about 800 meters and the tornado was 22.4 kilometers length contact with the ground. As the vortex crossed the Mississippi River, he put these dry briefly in the section. The tornado destroyed a suspension bridge over the Mississippi, the post office, the courthouse, a flour mill, a school and two churches. Fifteen railroad cars were damaged and uplifted and warped the tracks. After the tornado Sauk Rapids had happened, where 44 residents died, he headed for Rice, where eleven visitors to a wedding were killed when the house was destroyed, where they were staying. In St. Cloud, the tornado killed 20 people. About 200 others were injured in total.
Effects
Before the tornado destroyed Sauk Rapids, was the site on the banks of the Mississippi River one of the most important cities in Minnesota and a trade center for the middle of this state. The tornado changed the economic fundamental, since it at least 109 commercially used or public buildings destroyed in Sauk Rapids, including all buildings on the main street. The damage amounted to over U.S. $ 400,000 ( with the purchasing power of 1886). Sauk Rapids could not hold his position and so St. Cloud was the dominant economic center in the region.