Severe storms sweep across Minnesota overnight, leaving thousands without power

Severe storms dropped large hail overnight, downed trees and left tens of thousands of Minnesota homes and businesses without power.

Line crews made progress in repairing the outages, but Xcel Energy and other utilities reported that more than 40,000 customers were still without power as of 5 p.m. Sunday, amid the region's sweltering summer heat.

A series of severe storms formed near Moorhead and Pelican Rapids Saturday night and moved southeast, paralleling the Interstate 94 corridor. The storm reached the Twin Cities early in the morning.

Minneapolis-St. Just after 1 a.m., St. Paul International Airport reported wind gusts of up to 62 mph. The size of a golf ball.

The National Weather Service received reports of rain in Pelican Rapids, Long Prairie, Gray Eagle, Suttle, Rockville, Annandale, Buffalo, St. Michael, Minneapolis, Edina and Lakeville There were trees and large branches falling.

A large tree fell on a street in Sao Paulo during the storm, crushing a car. There were no immediate reports of injuries from the severe weather.

As the storm continued to move southeast, heavy rains caused flash flooding in parts of western Wisconsin.

Stronger storms are possible in the area later Sunday.

power failure

As of dawn Sunday, Xcel Energy reported that more than 70,000 of its customers were without power in the Twin Cities metropolitan and St. Cloud areas of Minnesota.

Lakeland Electric Cooperative reported outages affecting more than 10,000 customers in Otter Tail County. The utility said its crews found not only downed power lines but also poles that had been blown down by strong winds.

“Restoration efforts will take time as crews place poles, hang wires and clear vegetation,” Lake District officials reported Sunday morning. They urged people to stay away from downed power lines.

Utilities including Otter Tail Power Company and Connexus Energy responded to severe outages Sunday morning.

The number of homes and businesses without power dropped Sunday morning as line crews made repairs, but there was still plenty of work to do.

As of 10 a.m., Xcel reported more than 60,000 customers were without power in Minnesota. Lake Region reported outages affecting more than 3,000 customers.

As of about 5 p.m., Xcel reported that more than 40,000 of its Minnesota customers were still without power. Lake Region reported outages affecting more than 900 customers.

The storm “caused many very small disruptions in our system, which increased the total recovery time. Crews will continue to work into the evening, but at this time we know it will not be until tomorrow to restore power to all members,” Lake District officials said on week stated in an update this afternoon.

tornado report

Earlier Saturday, other storms in the area produced reports of tornadoes.

A trained weather observer reported a tornado in southern Minnesota between Medford and Kenyon around 5 p.m.

Weather observers reported a tornado in eastern North Dakota, west of Wahpeton, around 7:30 p.m.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from either tornado.