Sixth anniversary of north side Minneapolis tornado

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - North side Minneapolis residents are remembering the devastation a tornado left behind when it ripped through their neighborhood six years ago.

On Monday, Norma Booker and her family were cleaning up their yard at 29th and Oliver Avenue North.

While they were working up a sweat, it was a far cry from the scene they returned to six years ago.

In 2011, a tornado tore right through their neighborhood on a Sunday afternoon. The Bookers were at church.

"We are having to crawl across trees,” said Norma. “I'm like ‘Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh no, oh no, when I get home. It's going to be a mess.’"

The EF-1 tornado had winds approaching 110 miles per hour, ripping down old, mature trees, splitting houses, and destroying cars parked on the streets.

The damage was massive across large swaths of the city.

Neighbors of the Bookers lost their home.

To this day, it hasn't been rebuilt. The lot is empty and overgrown.

"The wind took it, shaking up a snow globe and throwing it down,” she said. “That's the way the house looked - twisted to the ground."

In addition to now vacant properties, the path of destruction from that wicked 2011 storm is still visible in the planting of younger trees and all the new roofs.

"It was hard, it was hard,” said Patti Paulson, a north side resident.

Paulson says she still can't believe it and still can't believe a tornado sliced right through the heart of the city.

"That's the weirdest thing, sitting in Wal-Mart, children on the cell phone telling me a tornado came through, most bizarre thing to hear,” said Paulson.