Bemidji storm recovery group seeks resident input on long-term impacts

Residents still dealing with the June 2025 storm have a direct way to shape what gets fixed next: the 2025 Bemidji Storm Recovery and Resilience: Navigating Next Steps survey. The recovery group behind it wants input that can steer long-term recovery priorities, strengthen future disaster planning, and document the mental strain that followed the storm.

Anyone in Bemidji, Solway, Pennington, or elsewhere in Beltrami County who was affected by the storm should take part, especially households and businesses that dealt with downed trees, damaged buildings, power outages, gas leaks, or structural damage. The survey is meant to capture which impacts lingered after the immediate cleanup ended and which problems are still unresolved nearly a year later. If those affected do not respond, their damage and recovery needs are less likely to shape what local leaders pursue first, from repair priorities to future funding requests.

Beltrami County declared a state of emergency on June 21, 2025, after destructive severe thunderstorms with possible embedded tornadoes. County officials said the storm response overwhelmed the emergency communications center with reports of downed trees, power lines on fire, gas leaks, and structural damage stretching from south of Solway through Bemidji toward Pennington. State records say about 100 people were displaced, many buildings were damaged, thousands lost power, and hundreds of thousands of trees came down across the county.

The National Weather Service later found a roughly 10-mile swath of straight-line winds estimated at 90 to 120 mph, with the heaviest damage near U.S. Highway 2 and Division Street West, through downtown Bemidji, and across the southern and eastern shores of Lake Bemidji. In some accounts, the winds were described as topping 100 mph, a level of force that helps explain why the damage spread across neighborhoods, public property, and utility systems at once.

Gov. Tim Walz declared a peacetime emergency for Beltrami County on June 27, 2025, and Bemidji State University closed after the storm because of damage and electrical outages, shifting work and classes remotely while crews cleared debris and restored service. The Red Cross, Salvation Army, Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster, and United Way of Bemidji Area all helped with shelter, food, and water as the region tried to stabilize.

The survey also fits into a broader effort to understand the storm’s lasting effects on health and daily life. A community-based study launched by the College of St. Scholastica, Bemidji State University, and the Bemidji Long-Term Storm Recovery Group is examining both physical damage and mental health impacts, including fear of another storm and mental exhaustion. That matters in a county still counting the cost: later reporting put Bemidji’s public-property damage at about $10 million, with the city responsible for a quarter of cleanup costs after federal FEMA aid thresholds were not met.