Thousands Still Without Power Day After Severe Storms
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Thousands are still without power in Minnesota more than a day after severe weather caused damage to power lines and outages across parts of the state.
At one point, 225,000 customers throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin lost electricity due to the storms.
Hundreds of Xcel Energy crews have worked over the weekend to turn the power back on.
As of 11 a.m. Sunday, about 34,000 houses were still without electricity.
The bulk of the storm damage came early Saturday morning in Carver County.
Gallery: July 18 Severe Weather
The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down near Watertown. Wind gusts peaked at 105 mph, ripping off roofs, damaging buildings and taking down trees.
The tornado left a four-mile path of damage about 500 yards wide. That type of destruction can cause delays for power companies trying to turn the lights back on.
Xcel Energy even asked neighboring states for extra help in the clean-up.
On Twitter, the company said it hopes to have power restored to almost everybody affected by midnight Sunday.
Of the 240,000 customers impacted by the storm, we expect to have 95% restored by the end of the day today: http://t.co/xhF43jJRn2
— Xcel Energy MN (@XcelEnergyMN) July 19, 2015