Survey crews working to determine if tornado touched down in east metro
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Strong storms that pushed through the east Twin Cities metro Saturday night took down trees, caused flooding, and knocked out power for thousands – while flooding out the Minnesota State Fair.
The National Weather Service tells FOX 9 they will have crews to in West St. Paul and Apple Valley to determine if a tornado touched down during Saturday's storms. Widespread damage was reported across the southeast
As of 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, nearly 8,500 Xcel Energy customers were still out of power across Minnesota, with most of the outages reported in the Hennepin and Ramsey counties. That number was as high as 22,000 customers Saturday evening after the storms moved through.
Cleanup crews were working through the night to take care of the mess left behind by the storms. FOX 9's crew found plenty of branches down near Harding High School in St. Paul, including one large branch that had landed on a vehicle, knocking out its window.
Video: Minnesota State Fair flash flooding during thunderstorm
Further south, in Apple Valley, trees were down near 126th Street West and Genesee Avenue, in a neighborhood just west of the Minnesota Zoo.
Saturday night's storms wreaked even more havoc at the Minnesota State Fair, where crowds were seen rushing for the gate as the strong rain and winds kicked up. The rain flooded out the area near the Grandstand.
Another line of storms is expected to push through the metro Sunday evening which could bring severe weather.
Damage in metro
Storms with powerful winds left behind a lot of storm damage in the Twin Cities on Saturday night.
In Eden Prairie, Jan Farmer was at home when the storm came roaring through. Large trees in both her front and backyard were ripped from the earth, and one fell over on top of their neighbor’s trailer.
Thankfully, the trees missed homes in their neighborhood, "If you were taking a tree down you wouldn’t have been able to lay it down as nicely as Mother Nature did," Farmer complimented.
Not far away in Apple Valley, a home in the Cedar Knolls Mobile Home Park wasn’t as lucky, as a tree there appeared to have left a hole in its roof.
The storm toppled many trees in the area, sending another into the side of the Cedar Valley Apartments. All while across the way, Gwen Johnson looked on in shock. "I’ve never in my life in Minnesota seen what looked like a solid wall move through," Johnson told FOX 9. "That’s the closest to what I think was a tornado I’ve ever been… and it was pretty scary."
National Weather Service crews were on the ground on Sunday surveying the damage to determine if a tornado was in fact responsible.
"Based on some of the damage we’ve seen with the winds, it could’ve been anywhere from 60 to maybe 80 miles per hour [winds]," NWS Meteorologsist Melissa Dye said.