Klobuchar Returns to Bemidji Amid Blizzard to Check Storm Recovery Progress

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar arrived in Bemidji Thursday amid a spring blizzard to assess recovery from the "Bemidji Blowdown," the June 21, 2025 derecho that destroyed an estimated 9 million trees and left Beltrami County $800,000 short of federal FEMA disaster assistance.

"I also happen to come here when it's snowing on April 2, go figure," she said, in her second visit to Bemidji since the storm.

Klobuchar met with Mayor Jorge Prince and Fire Chief Justin Sherwood at Bemidji Fire Hall 1, where Sherwood raised a pressing spring concern: dry tree debris blanketing public and private lands throughout the county is prime wildfire fuel. "While the trees have only been gone for months, it's extremely dry," he said.

The Blowdown, named Minnesota's top weather event of 2025 by Assistant State Climatologist Pete Boulay, originated as tornadoes in North Dakota before evolving into a derecho that carved a 37-mile path at wind speeds up to 120 mph. It knocked out power to tens of thousands of residents for up to six days and caused $8.2 million in non-insurable public damage, according to Emergency Management Director Christopher Muller. Although Minnesota missed the FEMA individual assistance threshold, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe qualified. Beltrami County is being reimbursed at 75% through the state's Disaster Assistance Contingency Account; Rep. Bidal Duran, who attended Thursday, co-authored a bill to raise that to 100%.

Klobuchar also visited a Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa controlled burn site near the Northwest Juvenile Detention Facility, where crews have deployed twice since the storm, before presenting Bemidji's KB101 (KBHP-FM) with its seventh NAB Crystal Award, a national record no other station has matched.

"I want to thank the people of Bemidji for just standing tall for their town," she said. "It's not just Paul Bunyan that stands tall around here.