Thousands without power after tornadoes, powerful storms hit Minnesota

National Weather Service teams will be out Friday to survey damage left behind by twisters that touched down in Minnesota and western Wisconsin, and determine how strong they were.

Meanwhile, Xcel Energy crews were working to restore power for more than 13,900 metro customers who remained in the dark at 8 a.m. Friday. That number fell to 5,600 by 9:50 a.m. In total, more than 16,000 customers across the state — some served by other providers — were without electricity Friday morning, according to Poweroutage.us.

A strong storm rolled across Minnesota on Thursday afternoon and early evening, prompting several severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings, including one in the metro area around 2:30 p.m. No twisters were reported in the downtown areas where sirens blared. But initial reports from the Storm Prediction Center included tornado touchdowns near Benson and Danvers in western Minnesota, and Spring Hill in Stearns County in central Minnesota.

Across the river in Wisconsin, twisters were spotted in St. Croix County near New Richmond with others near Hammond and Ladysmith, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jake Beitlich.

Two Weather Service survey teams will be in Wisconsin on Friday to assess the landscape and talk with emergency management officials to determine the extent of any damage. A team may be dispatched to western Minnesota, Beitlich said.

Some tree damage was reported and power lines were toppled. One house in Barron, Wis., sustained siding damage, according to initial reports, the Weather Service said.

“Reports will keep coming in today,” Beitlich said as the Weather Service gets a better idea of what the storms whipped up and how strong the tornadoes were.

Hail between 2 and 3 inches in diameter fell in the Altoona area in Wisconsin. Winds clocked at 73 mph rattled windows and uprooted trees near Thief River Falls in northwestern Minnesota, the Storm Prediction Center said.

The storms brought some much-needed rain to northeastern Minnesota where three wildfires continued to burn. But with it came strong winds that led some hot spots to reignite, said St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay.

Evacuation orders for the Munger Shaw fire were lifted Thursday due to more favorable weather conditions, Ramsay said.

Storms dropped between less than an inch of rain in the vicinity of the Brimson Complex fire in St. Louis County.

“We had a good, heavy rain. Everyone was cheering,” said Ketzel Levens, a meteorologist with the Weather Service’s Duluth office.

Power remained out in Crystal, where about 3,900 customers lacked electricity Friday morning. By 9:50 a.m., that number had dropped to 300. In Plymouth 417 customers were without service and 1,400 in Farmington.

Across the west metro, 3,185 remained in the dark, with 2,228 customers in the east metro at 9:50 a.m., according to the Xcel Energy outage maps.

More than 700 workers were in the field Friday following fierce winds that felled trees and took down power lines and poles, said Xcel spokesman Kevin Coss.

“The wind remains a challenge as the restoration effort continues,” he said as crews work to bring customers back online.

After record warmth earlier in the week, Friday will usher in much cooler air with temperatures falling into the 50s by the afternoon. A wind advisory remains in effect for southwestern Minnesota until 7 p.m., the Weather Service said.

Temperatures in the metro will stay in the 50s Saturday and moderate into the 60s on Sunday, the Weather Service said.