[2] The worst residential damage occurred in the Golden Ridge Subdivision (today the Madison Elementary School district) near 25th Street North, much of which was swept away and scattered across a nearby farm field.

Ten people lost their lives in the immediate aftermath of the storm, making it the deadliest tornado in North Dakota history.

Because of the tornado's relatively slow speed, many neighborhood residents fled the area in their cars before the storm hit.

At the western edge of Golden Ridge, Donald and Betty Titgen were in their mobile home when the tornado struck.

[5] Two blocks to the east of the Titgens, Theodore and Teresa Udahl and their eight-year-old daughter Mary Jean were also killed when their home was swept away.

She suffered terrible injuries which later led to a leg being amputated and the loss of function in one arm, and she later died in hospital about three weeks after the tornado on July 15.

In the summer of 1957, Gerald and Mercedes Munson lived at the far eastern edge of Golden Ridge with their seven children; Phyllis, LeRoy, Darwin, Bradley, Jeanette, Lois Ann and Mary Beth, whose ages at the time were 16, 14, 12, 10, 5, 2, and 16 months respectively.

However, the co-worker who was supposed to cover her shift had been running late, and when Mercedes first heard the storm warnings she called home to check on her children.

[8] Mercedes quickly caught a ride across town in an effort to reach her children, only to find her neighborhood in ruins.

As the evening progressed the two women went back and forth between the city's two main hospitals, St. John's and St. Luke's, until before long she learned the horrible truth.

Mercedes first identified Phyllis, Jeanette and Mary Beth in the basement morgue at St. John's hospital, while Lois Ann had been found alive but gravely injured.

Meanwhile, at St. Luke's she identified Bradley in the morgue, and was informed that Darwin had also survived but like Lois Ann, was also severely injured.

The photograph was hailed as symbolizing in raw detail the true horror experienced by Fargo in the wake of the tornado, and the following year helped the Forum win a Pulitzer Prize.

An image of the tornado is featured on the cover of the 1984 album Couldn't Stand the Weather by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble.

In 2019, the Cass Act Players performed a musical based on the events of the tornado called "Weather the Storm" at Bonanzaville Museum in West Fargo, ND.