Hail, high winds, heavy rains cause problems, again

Hail fell all over the metro, from Blaine to Eden Prairie and water flooded parts of Interstate 494 as high as car windows in the southern Twin Cities.

Thunderstorms wreaked havoc over central Minnesota early Monday evening leaving thousands without power in the Brainerd area before moving on into the Twin Cities metro area, where about 19,000 customers were without power Tuesday morning, mostly in the western metro area.

The National Weather Service reported that 2.05 inches of water fell at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport during the storm.

Severe storms also pounded parts of western Wisconsin during the night, damaging an airport hangar and other buildings and knocking down trees and power lines.

The National Weather Service says initial reports from last night's storms indicated severe damage to a house southeast of New Richmond, a roof blown off the airport hangar and extensive damage to some houses and barns in the area.

Brian Elwood of Xcel Energy says the utility's crews were working through the night to restore service.

According to the Wisconsin State Patrol, a wind gust sent a semi trailer truck onto its side west of Menomonie on Interstate 94. No injuries were reported

Several farms in the New Richmond area have trees down, silos crushed and damaged.

As rain pelted the metro area, the State Patrol blocked off sections of Interstate 494 south of Minneapolis after several cars became stranded in the water.

Steve Johnson of the State Patrol said eastbound 494 was closed at France Avenue and westbound 494 was closed at Penn Avenue.

During the height of the flooding, some drivers reported vehicles turning around and heading in the wrong direction on the interstate as drivers tried to get out of the area.

Johnson said there was also flooding on Interstate 35W in the construction area near Diamond Lake Road, where cars were stalled in the water. The water was receding rapidly after the storms moved out of the area early Tuesday, and the roads were clear by the Tuesday morning rush hour.

In the Brainerd area, Char Kinzer of Crow Wing Power said as many as 7,700 people were without power at 9 p.m. Monday and more were expected as reports came in. She said it could be up to 48 hours before power was restored to some customers. Updated outage figures were not immediately available Tuesday morning.

Kinzer said along with trees knocking down power lines, the thunderstorm knocked down large transmission lines and power substations. Extra crews were called in to help with repairs, she said.

Norma Miller was sitting in her sunroom in southeast Brainerd when the storm hit and a branch of a huge elm tree dropped onto her house and took out her power line.

"Suddenly there was a big boom and a big cloud of dust came out to meet me," Miller said. "I knew the ceiling had caved in."

Miller, her cats and bird escaped injury.

Brainerd radio station WWWI-AM and -FM was knocked off the air Monday night in the middle of the storm and still wasn't broadcasting Tuesday morning, morning announcer Lon Schmidt said. Power was cut off to the station's transmitter sites in south Brainerd, although the station itself had power.

Near East Gull Lake, residents reported hundreds of trees down.

North Central Speedway owner Cliff Sasker was home in Onamia when promoter Peggy Jensen called to tell him the 152-foot, two-story building housing 16 viewing booths and skyboxes was destroyed by the storm and the wreckage ruined much of the grandstand below it.

"I was shocked," Sasker said.

Tuesday's Late Model Challenge Series was canceled. Sasker said they hope to get the track cleaned up for Saturday's races.

A building housing several businesses along Highway 371 was torn apart by the storm, with twisted sheet metal strewn about and the roof collapsed in a heap in front of the building.

"It was really scary," said Joey Beltran, 10, who was in the building with his father and younger brother. "The roof started coming down while I was at the window. Everything started coming down. It was scary, very scary,"

Joey said his dad, Bob Beltran, used a knife to cut through the screen door but the roof blocked their way out. They finally were able to get out through the back of the building, he said.

The new storms moved in just two nights after other thunderstorms pelted central Minnesota and the Twin Cities area with winds that reached 70 to 80 miles per hour, damaging trees and knocking down power lines.

More than a quarter-million Twin Cities residents were without power after the storm early Saturday, though that number had dwindled to about 5,000 by late Monday night before another 55,000 customers lost power during Monday night's storms.

Xcel said some residents of the weekend storms might not have power restored until late Tuesday. Sandok said crews would be assessing the new damage Tuesday morning and said it could be a couple of days before all power is restored

By The Associated Press

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