Severe storms barrel across Minnesota overnight, leaving thousands without power

Severe storms overnight dropped large hail, downed trees and knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses across Minnesota.

A line of intense storms formed Saturday night near Moorhead and Pelican Rapids and moved southeast, paralleling the Interstate 94 corridor. The storms reached the Twin Cities during the early morning hours.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport reported a wind gust of 62 mph just after 1 a.m. Weather spotters reported hailstones larger than baseballs near Monticello, and the size of golf balls in Big Lake and Oakdale.

And the National Weather Service received reports of trees and large branches down in Pelican Rapids, Sartell, Buffalo, Minneapolis, Edina and Lakeville.

As the storms continued moving southeast, torrential rain led to flash flooding in parts of western Wisconsin.

More strong storms are possible in the region later Sunday.

Power outages

As of daybreak Sunday, Xcel Energy was reporting more than 70,000 of its Minnesota customers without power in the Twin Cities metro area and St. Cloud.

Lake Region Electric Cooperative reported outages affecting more than 10,000 of its customers in Otter Tail County.

Otter Tail Power Company and Connexus Energy were among the other utilities responding to significant outages on Sunday morning.

The number of homes and businesses without power was dropping through the morning, as line crews made repairs.

Tornado reports

Earlier Saturday, other storms in the region produced reports of tornadoes.

A trained weather spotter reported a tornado in southern Minnesota, between Medford and Kenyon, at about 5 p.m.

And weather spotters reported a tornado in eastern North Dakota, west of Wahpeton, at about 7:30 p.m.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from either tornado.