Violent storms leave thousands without power
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Western and northern parts of the Twin Cities metro bore the brunt of power failures Tuesday night after heavy thunderstorms moved through the central part of Minnesota.
• Tweets, photos from Tuesday's storms
The storms also led to at least a couple of tornado warnings, near Willmar in west-central Minnesota and in Pine County in east-central Minnesota. But there were no immediate reports of touchdowns.
More than 14,000 customers of Xcel Energy were without power Wednesday morning. Outages stretched from the St. Cloud area through the Twin Cities, St. Louis Park and Bloomington, spokeswoman Mary Sandok said. Customers were being brought back online as the morning progressed.
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The storms started in eastern North Dakota about 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon and included a tornado touchdown south of Fargo. The severe weather swept down the Interstate 94 corridor and dropped hail reported to be as big as 3 inches just west of New London. Thunderstorm wind gusts hit 60 miles an hour in Rosemount and 55 miles an hour north of Willmar.
The State Patrol says heavy rain in Bloomington briefly closed Cedar Avenue near the Mall of America, and golf-ball sized hail damaged cars and broke windows in Eden Prairie.
Two inch hail was reported in Maple Plain, Morris, Burnsville and Bloomington. Hail an inch or larger was reported in places from eastern North Dakota, to near the Wisconsin Dells.
The Eden Prairie Police Department tweeted a photo of a squad car that lost its rear window due to hail.
Sandok warned people to stay away from fallen power lines.
"Any downed wire can be live, and they should call us immediately if they see a downed wire and they use the same number they use to call in a power outage," she said.
That number is (800) 895 1999.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
