NWS confirms tornadoes touched down in Anoka, Isanti, Dakota counties Thursday
COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. — The mayor of Cottage Grove declared a state of emergency early Friday morning due to damage from the latest powerful storm to sweep across the Twin Cities this week.
Mayor Myron Bailey says property owners should contact their insurance company if there's any damage. The city will not enter private property to remove trees or debris.
Cottage Grove will be conducting curbside pick-up of private debris. Residents need to place tree debris at the curb by Sunday. The city will also be removing or trimming trees along public streets.
There were several reports of tornadoes on Thursday in both Minnesota and Wisconsin, including one picked up on traffic cameras just off Interstate 94 in Baldwin. The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touched down in Anoka County on Thursday. Because of the extensive damage, officials are working to determine the path and rating of the tornado. Officials also confirmed an EF-1 tornado in Isanti County and an EF-0 in Dakota County.
Officials also confirmed two EF-0 tornadoes in western Wisconsin — one in Pierce County and the other in St. Croix County.
Some people in the metro didn't even have a chance to fully clean up from the two storms earlier this week before they had to deal with Thursday's mess. In Andover, crews used front-end loaders to clear the streets.
Massive trees are down all over the metro and beyond, including in Anoka, Champlin and Fridley. Officials say there were more than 30 911 calls for downed power lines.
Thursday's storm delayed the Gophers home opener in Minneapolis by four hours. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was also under a ground stop in the late afternoon, and the Minnesota State Fair temporarily closed its gates as the heaviest of the storms rolled through.
Xcel Energy is reporting more than 12,000 customers are still without power in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin as of 6 a.m. Friday.
Cleanup continues after week of brutal storms
Power restoration and clean-up crews were working against the clock Thursday ahead of the latest storm.
Three days after a storm, parts of St. Paul's Como neighborhood are still without power.
Andy Rodriguez with St. Paul Parks and Recreation says they prioritized clearing roads of large trees, but debris along side streets will take some time.
"This will be a multi-week kind of clean-up response on behalf of our teams working extra time, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. as much as possible," Rodriguez said.
Scott Sydor woke up to a loud bang and a flash of light on Monday. Three days later, he still has a large tree in his backyard.
"A 120-foot maple, I think, from two houses down fell across the last three backyards... so exciting times!" Sydor said.
He's thankful he didn't lose power, but his next-door neighbor was not so lucky. So he did the neighborly thing, running an extension cord from his house to theirs
"It's actually good for the neighborhood here because we interact more, sharing coffee and refrigerators and freezers so stuff doesn't spoil," he said.
Minneapolis Parks and Recreation clears tree debris after storms as well. People are encouraged to report fallen trees in their neighborhood if they haven't been addressed yet.
Residents recount storm
James Hauser and his crew at Carr's Tree Service were racing to escape a tornado Thursday night.
"We had three of us pointing out trees as they were falling as we were running for the open field," Hauser said. "The whole forest came down around us."
Strong winds snapped trees and sent some toppling over onto homes, including Linda Siegler's home of more than 40 years.
"It was really loud and scary," she said.
Siegler said she was in the kitchen cooking when the wind picked up and passed through quickly. It wasn't until she walked to her bedroom and saw a tree smashed into her roof and busted through her ceiling.
"I wasn't sure if that thing was going to come down on or not," she said.
Thankfully, the roof didn't come down —but the rain did.
"The rug was soaked — took those out rugs on either side — water all underneath the bed running across here- a mess," Siegler said.
Friday, Hauser was back out helping clear for residents like Siegler.
A chainsaw in a hand, they got to work, chopping up trees, before loading them into trucks and clearing the street.
