Severe storms down trees, knock out power to thousands across Minnesota

Two rounds of severe thunderstorms swept across Minnesota on Wednesday, bringing large hail and wind gusts of more than 80 mph that downed trees and knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses.

The strong winds may also have been responsible for a early morning train derailment in western Minnesota, near the city of Hoffman.

Morning storms

The first round of storms developed over the Dakotas and Nebraska late Tuesday and congealed into a line of severe storms that reached the Twin Cities around 3 a.m. Wednesday.

Parts of western Minnesota were especially hard-hit. A weather station near Marietta recorded a wind gust of 83 mph just after 1 a.m. Other gusts reported by the National Weather Service included 78 mph near Madison; 74 mph near Glenwood; 72 mph at Chokio; and 62 mph near Dilworth, Sabin and Parkers Prairie.

At about 2:15 a.m. Wednesday, as those winds were raking western Minnesota, about 20 cars of a Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway train were knocked off the tracks in Hoffman, which is located in Grant County.

“The cars are all loaded autoracks carrying new vehicles. No hazardous materials are involved and there is no risk to public safety,” the railway said in a statement later in the morning. “CPKC crews and equipment are at the site working on cleanup.”

There were no reports of injuries.

The cause of the derailment remains under investigation, but the railway’s statement acknowledged that it happened as the storms were moving through.

City officials in Hoffman asked residents to stay out of city parks. “There are many trees uprooted and it is currently not safe,” the city said in a Facebook post.

There were also strong winds in the Twin Cities. The storms toppled large limbs and entire trees onto vehicles in parts of St. Paul, including the Cathedral Hill neighborhood.

As of 5 a.m., Minnesota utilities were reporting more than 70,000 customers without power. That number dropped through the morning as line crews made repairs.

Ahead of the storms, Xcel Energy said it had crews ready to respond to downed lines.

The utility reminded people to stay away from downed or sagging power lines — and to “always assume an electric line, even one on the ground, is energized and dangerous.”

In an update Wednesday morning, Xcel said “about 275 crews are in the field now to safely restore power as quickly as possible, with additional teams slated to join this afternoon. Crews report first to situations that threaten public safety, such as downed wires that are still energized, followed by the restoration jobs that will bring the largest number of customers back online at once.”

Runestone Electric Association, based in Alexandria, reported significant damage across its service area “including downed and broken trees, downed power lines and broken power poles. Please use extreme caution today as you are out and about, especially if you are near low or downed power lines.”

The utility said Wednesday morning that some of the outages could last for more than 12 hours.

Afternoon storms

The second round of storms fired up during the afternoon hours Wednesday as a cold front collided with hot, humid air across the region.

There were reports of large hail across parts of central and northern Minnesota — including hailstones larger than golf balls in Glenwood and Wadena that caused damage to vehicles and buildings.

Quarter- to golf ball-size hail was reported in the far northern Twin Cities metro area, from Wyoming to Chisago City, Lindstrom and Taylors Falls.

And storms also brought hail and strong winds to southeast Minnesota, with the National Weather Service relaying reports of trees down in Winona just after 5:30 p.m.

• Hail threat spikes briefly Friday night before cool weekend
• Warm, muggy Friday with storms possible Friday night; cooler air follows
• Thunderstorms fire up Friday night, cooler weather follows
• Some relief in drought, but concerns remain widespread