Regional Industry & News

On this day in 1955, powerful storms with winds up to 73 mph and torrential rain swept across the region, injuring two people and causing flooding, road washouts and widespread crop damage.

Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:

Winds, Rain Pound Area; Two Injured

Two people were injured as a result of a thunderstorm in which rain driven by high winds fell to a depth of 1.33 inches in about an hour here Tuesday.

Mrs. Melvin Olerud, 1650 11th Ave. S., suffered a damaged nerve in her hand when lightning struck the television antenna on the roof of her home.

George Halverson, Downer, Minn., farmer was hurt when his car crashed into a washout on a country road near Downer about 7:30 a.m. today.

Mrs. Olerud was treated by a physician and released.

Halverson was listed as in fair condition at St. Ansgar Hospital in Moorhead.

The line of thunderstorms covered a wide area in North Dakota and Minnesota, damaging crops in some areas. Farm buildings were blown down in Griggs County and trees were uprooted.

Another cold front was moving eastward across North Dakota today, bringing possible thunderstorms or thundershowers, according to the Weather Bureau.

However, the Bureau said it won't be as "spectacular" as the one that hit here shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, with gusts of wind as high as 60 miles per hour.

Rainfall during the night totalled 1.68 inches.

The new front is expected to hit the Red River Valley late this afternoon or evening. Lows tonight in the area will be near 65 and highs Thursday of 82.

Underpasses in Fargo were flooded and police assisted a number of motorists whose autos were stalled.

A tornado warning issued by the Weather Bureau Tuesday afternoon was lifted shortly after 9 p.m.

Mrs. Olerud said she was crocheting when the lightning hit. Evidently it traveled through the wire into the set, burning out one tube, and in some manner hit the crochet needle in her hand. She said her hand was discolored.

Halverson suffered a fractured rib and a deep laceration of the forehead in the washout crash. He was alone in the car. He was taken to the hospital by the Fargo-Moorhead Ambulance Service.

Adolph Olson, Clay deputy sheriff, said heavy rains last night had washed out a culvert and carved a deep gash in the road at the intersection of County Road No. 14 and a township road a mile east and a half-mile north of Downer.

Downer is on Highway 32 about 15 miles southeast of Moorhead.

Olson said the washout was not visible from the road until closely approached. Halverson's car, heavily damaged on the front end, plunged into the opposite bank of the washout.

A nearby bridge, Olson reported, was slightly damaged by the torrential rains, which reportedly measured over three inches in the area.

Crops were reported beaten down by the rain near Amenia, N.D., and also west of Argusville and at Edgeley, N.D.

In Moorhead, the wind ripped out a section of a plate glass window fronting the Kiefer Chevrolet Co. building at 20 6th St. N. Lightning struck several power line poles in Fargo but there was no extensive damage.

An accident on a township road about four miles southeast of Walcott occurred at the height of the storm injuring two passengers.

The car was approaching the township road from the Oscar Miller farm when it crashed into the ditch.

One passenger was admitted to St. Luke's Hospital in Fargo last night and another was treated and released. The names were not released to the press.

No report of the accident has been filed with Richland County officials, Sheriff Lambert Johnson said today. In St. Luke's, the patient is reported under observation for possible fractures. She suffered painful facial and knee injuries, but is not in critical condition, hospital authorities said.

A weather observer in Walcott said rainfall measuring 1.60 inches had fallen during the afternoon and early evening Tuesday.

In Fargo a report of a light plane circling near West Fargo attempting to land during the heavy downpour was received by the CAA at Hector Airport.

The Cass sheriff's office said the light aircraft landed safely in a field north of U.S. 10 east of the Goldberg Seed Co. elevator. After the storm abated the plane took off and landed at Hector Airport.

The pilot was identified as Alan Morton, Hancock, Minn.

First reports of the rain in the North Dakota area came from Jamestown where three-quarters of an inch came down in 10 minutes Tuesday afternoon.

The wind at Jamestown hit 73 miles per hour shortly after noon, causing considerable damage. It blew over a 200-foot short wave communications tower owned by the Otter Tail Power Co., two miles west of the city, knocking out their short wave system.

A water well drilling rig, at work on the northern outskirts of the city, was blown over, damaging it considerably, but no one was hurt.

The Otter Tail Power Co. reported some pole damage but operations were said to be normal.

Several windows in homes and stores were blown in.

Grand Forks reported about 1.25 inches in a two-hour span and wind reaching 75 miles an hour.

At Lisbon close to an inch of rain fell with heavy wind that took its toll in a number of uprooted trees and broken branches within the city.

The Edgeley weather observer reported 1.30 inches of rain with a slight sprinkling of hail.

In the Minnesota area immediately east of Moorhead, rain came down in heavy sheets, stalling motorists and flooding fields.

One person who drove into Fargo-Moorhead in the midst of the rain said he counted 14 cars stalled between Glyndon and Hawley.

The underpass on U.S. 10 at Hawley was reported flooded and impassable about 6 p.m.

A motorist traveling in the Perley-Hendrum area said a steady downpour made travel difficult and reduced visibility considerably.

Many fields were reported flooded.

Twin Valley reported 1.50 inches of rain in a three-hour period up to 9 p.m. and it was still falling at that time.

Crookston had about .64 of an inch in 1½ hours with winds gusting up to 40 miles an hour.

Detroit Lakes received about .75 of an inch and Ada received .29.

Crops in Clay County, already damaged by too much water, took another beating from torrential rains Tuesday night.

While all parts of the county have reported a surplus of water, the southwest quarter of the county has been hardest hit. Last night rains of over three inches fell in this area.

"It was bad before," said County Agent Oswald Daellenbach, "but after last night I'm almost afraid to look."

Thomas Lee, elevator operator at Baker, said the crop situation is "getting worse and worse every day." He estimated that in the area north of Baker—a key potato raising area in the county—as much as 50 per cent of the spud crop may be a total loss.

Some of the grain crops—notably barley—are about ready for swathing but in most areas farmers are not able to get into the saturated fields, observers said.

Fargo's rain last night brought to 5.30 inches the precipitation in the first 12 days of July.

The Red River rose more than a foot in 24 hours reaching a stage of 12.05 feet this morning, about five feet less than flood stage.

U.S. meteorologist R. W. Shultz said there is no danger of the river's flooding from the recent rains.

Some area points had similar records to report. Wahpeton received .81 of an inch in about 40 minutes early Tuesday evening to bring to 3.96 inches the rainfall thus far there this month.

Casselton recorded .50 of an inch last night, Gardner had about one-quarter of an inch and Amenia about .75.

Argusville reported .50 and a weather observer said considerably more rain had fallen about eight miles west of town.