Several fatalities reported in first Minnesota snowstorm of season
PLYMOUTH, Minn. -- A least four people died in accidents on roads left slippery by the first significant snowstorm of the season to strike Minnesota.
Plymouth police say a pedestrian helping a driver who spun out was hit by another vehicle that spun out around 12:15 a.m. Saturday on Highway 169. The pedestrian died at the scene. That person's name hasn't been released.
The State Patrol says a 58-year-old St. Paul man died around 9:30 p.m. Friday when his pickup spun out on Highway 169 and rolled in Princeton. His name hasn't been released.
Two others died in storm-related crashes Friday morning. They were a 44-year-old Duluth trucker who went off Interstate 35 into the St. Louis River in Scanlon, and a 26-year-old Pierz man who died in a crash on Highway 25 near Brainerd.
In the northern part of the state, the weather is making its presence known, CBS Minnesota reports. The powerful wind has pushed Lake Superior into Duluth's Canal Park. Giant waves crashing over the sea wall flooded a good portion of The Lakewalk.
Drivers across the state said it's a bit of a shock to the system to drive in snow in October.
St. Cloud residents woke up to a blanket of fresh white snow. Some parts of the Duluth area got close to 10 inches. In the Twin Cities, a lot of the snow melted on contact, but not in the northern metro area. It caught a lot of drivers off guard.
"People forget how to drive during the first snow," Tyler Thompson of Shakopee said.
The snow is the earliest since 2009.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation, or MNdot, didn't pre-treat the roads for this storm because the temperatures should stay mild, and most of the snow will melt.
"I'm not an outdoorsy person but I like watching it from my window," Maureen Green of Ham Lake said.
MNdot says it does have crews out all over the state. The plows are, for the most part, in the Duluth area. That's where they're really watching, because if temperatures do drop or stay below freezing, they'll have to put salt down.