Wintery weather stops mail delivery in Duluth
The winds howling off of Lake Superior have gusted over 60 miles per hour, rocking cars on the long bridges between Duluth and Superior and blowing away anything not nailed down.
Snow and high winds prompted the closure of state offices in Lake and St. Louis counties and some 150 communities closed schools or delayed classes.
In Duluth and Superior, snowfall amounts so far have been a little lighter than predicted.
But nine inches by early afternoon was plenty to wreak havoc with the region's electrical grid.
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Paul Brissett went to work at Minnesota Power at 4 a.m. this morning. Earlier this afternoon Brissett described the problem in Duluth as rolling blackouts, that rolled through one neighborhood after another.
"As our crews get one area patched up, the winds create a problem in another. We're currently at about 11,000 customers out but they're not the same 11,000 that we had earlier today," Brissett said.
Minnesota Power has brought in crews from its coverage area outside Duluth. Brissett said as far as electrical power, the storm's bullseye is over Duluth and Superior.
"We're setting on it. We've had very few reports of outages beyond Duluth and the nearby environs. Almost all of them are in Duluth," said Brissett.
Downtown Superior has been without power most of the day. Businesses that tried to open closed for lack of electricity.
Brissett said the region's many trees are a big part of the problem.
"This heavy wet snow and high winds on trees and tree limbs," she said. "If our crew gets out there and finds an entire tree has come down and taken the lines down with it, then the tree has to be cut up and removed and the lines have to be reattached. Particularly with the winds the way they are that's slow, careful work."
The Minnesota Transportation Department still advises no travel in the region. But four wheel drive vehicles in particular were moving fairly easily through much of the Twin Ports.
City of Duluth spokesman Jeff Pappas said plows were pulled off city streets before sunrise this morning because of poor visibility and heavy snow. But soon, he said, the plows were back, at least on the main routes.
"After sunrise the crews were able to re-evaluate, conditions got a little bit better, and they're getting on top of it now. We're doing pretty well, actually, all things considered," Pappas said.
It's clear that almost everybody heeded the warnings and stayed home. Schools and businesses closed, and even the Post Office called off delivery for the day.
In Duluth, the power will likely be a problem until the winds slowly diminish through tonight and into Saturday morning.
