SAUK CENTER, Minn. -- Power has been mostly restored across Sauk Centre, but cleanup is just getting started after the community was thrashed by a powerful thunderstorm and accompanying winds late Sunday night.
Mayor Brad Kirckof tells KARE 11 that hundreds of large, mature trees are down across Sauk Centre, many taking power lines with them. At the height of the storm, approximately 8:15 p.m., the town was completely without power.
Straight line winds also damaged dozens of homes, but none of them appear to be uninhabitable.
Crews worked all night cutting and removing some of those trees, and as of late Monday morning power had been restored to an estimated 80 percent of the community's residents.
Kirckof says Sauk Centre's emergency sirens were activated but apparently did not go off to warn residents of the approaching storm. City officials are investigating whether the power outages were to blame.
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