Storms rake sections of Minnesota
(AP) A tornado touched down near this small town in western Minnesota as thunderstorms swept across Otter Tail County on Thursday, officials said.
The tornado, traveling northeast, touched down around 2 p.m. Funnels were also reported around Lake Lida and Crystal Lake. Several lake homes were damaged, along with trees, boats and other recreational vehicles, according to Judy Siggerud, the dispatch supervisor for the county.
There were no immediate reports of injuries. Elizabeth is about seven miles northwest of Fergus Falls.
"My husband was pulling some lawn furniture off of our deck, when all of a sudden a black cloud came out right in front of us," said Claudia Boelter, who took cover in a neighbor's house along Lake Lida. "We ran next door and I looked out their living room window. I could see this cloud that was down on the lake - rotating and pulling water up."
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Funnel clouds were also spotted in central Wilkin County, but no damage was reported.
The National Weather Service issued numerous severe thunderstorms warnings for the state Thursday, from the southwest to the northeast corners of the state.
While the thunderstorms generally passed to the west and east of the Twin Cities, winds gusting above 40 mph caused delays at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Spokesman Pat Hogan said operations were down to one runway Thursday afternoon instead of the usual two because of the winds. Flights from Chicago were delayed by up to two hours because Chicago had weather issues too, Hogan said, while other delays averaged an hour.
The winds also temporarily knocked out power to nearly 25,000 Xcel Energy Inc. customers in the metro area.
Overnight, storms burst out of southwestern Minnesota and moved northwest across parts of the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Several of the storms dropped hail as big as golf balls.
There was a high risk of severe thunderstorms in eastern Minnesota and a chance of severe storms extending west to the border with North and South Dakota, the weather service said.
In the Wahpeton-Breckenridge area on the North Dakota-Minnesota border, a strong thunderstorm dumped between two-and-a-half and three inches of rain in 90 minutes, leaving several streets in both towns under water.