Thousands of Minnesotans still without power after severe weather
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Jessica Gonko thought it was a tornado that caused a large tree to fall onto her home, smashing into her bedroom window in the South Como neighborhood of St. Paul.
"An interesting way to wake up for sure," said Gonko. "The trees were blowing and they were almost bent in half."
Despite the damage, power was back in her neighborhood just after noon Tuesday.
However, 20 minutes down the road on St. Paul's east side, Kong Vang said his power has yet to be restored. Vang said Xcel Energy originally estimated his power would be back Tuesday morning.
"Yeah that's definitely the frustrating part," said Vang. "They keep changing the estimated time, so it kind of sucks."
"We're very empathetic with the customers that are still out of power," said Trisha Duncan, Director of Minnesota Community Relations for Xcel Energy.
The utility prioritizes power restorations that have the biggest impacts, Duncan said. The idea is to get as many customers back as quickly as possible.
"We start at a feeder level and then work our way into a neighborhood," said Duncan.
Duncan said the more than 60 mph winds caused lines to fall and trees to uproot.
In all, the utility company said about 250,000 customers lost power during the storms.
"It does take a little bit of time," said Duncan.
Duncan said power should be back for customers by Thursday evening.
In the meantime, Vang said he is making due, thanks to a generator from his brother.
"I'm just waiting for them to fix the power for everybody," said Vang.