Three people are dead in North Dakota, and tens of thousands are without power in northern Minnesota after powerful winds swept across the upper Midwest Friday and overnight Saturday.
A complex storm system wreaked havoc in parts of North Dakota, northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin, with reported tornadic activity, large hail and strong wind gusts, according to Brian Hurley, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.
Tornado kills three in North Dakota town
Cass County Sheriff Jesse Jahner said at a press conference Saturday that two men and a woman were killed at two separate locations in the town of Enderlin, North Dakota, late Friday. Enderlin is about 57 miles southwest of Fargo.
Timothy Lynch, lead forecaster with the weather service’s Grand Forks office, said the storm had been confirmed as a tornado, but that crews were still working to determine its strength and highest wind speeds. He said the storm impacted the neighboring counties of Cass and Ransom.
“We still have people out investigating and gathering information on what happened. It was a pretty major event,” Lynch told The Associated Press on Saturday.
More than 20,000 customers in North Dakota are also without power as of Saturday afternoon.
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100+ mph wind gusts in northern Minnesota, officials say
A tornado warning was issued for Minnesota’s Beltrami County just after midnight, with torrential rains causing flash flooding in downtown Bemidji and downed trees blocking dozens of roadways, according to county emergency manager Christopher Muller.
He described damage in the Bemidji area as “extensive,” with scores of fallen power lines.
The National Weather Service in Grand Forks reported wind gusts of up to 106 mph at Bemidji Regional Airport just before 1 a.m. on Saturday.
“I cannot ever recall hearing a rushing wind like that!” Bemidji Mayor Jorge Prince posted on Facebook in the early hours Saturday. “Emerged from our basement to find our neighborhood with lots of trees down and several homes with severe damage.”
Just before 2:30 a.m., Muller reported there were “roofs off buildings everywhere around Bemidji, vehicles flipped, windows blown in at the regional medical center,” and likely “thousands of trees down.”
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He also noted at the time there were about “25 gas leaks” around Bemidji, and some apartment buildings “had their roofs torn off.”
“If you are reporting property damage, please wait until this emergency subsides so dispatchers can process emergency calls first,” Muller said in a Saturday morning press release.
Displaced residents and those in need of assistance are urged to go to the Sanford Convention Center.
Many Bemidji-area businesses posted on social media Saturday saying they were without power and closed for the day.
Mueller warned residents to prepare for “long-term power outages” because of damage to infrastructure.
As of Saturday afternoon, more than 25,000 customers in northern Minnesota are still without power, according to poweroutage.us.
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Itasca State Park battered by “traumatic wind event”
On Saturday, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced Itasca State Park “experienced a traumatic wind event overnight” and has no power.
The DNR has closed all of the park’s buildings and programming and says only vault toilets are available for visitors.
All roadways in the park are “currently passable” with the exception of Wilderness Drive, and its bike trail is also unpassable.
Nearly 150 million Americans under heat warnings, advisories
The clean-up effort comes amid dangerous heat across the Midwest and Northern Plains, with the heat index this weekend in the 100s in Minnesota.
Almost 59 million Americans are under an extreme heat warning Saturday, and another 84 million are under a heat advisory.
This story will be updated.