Tornadoes move across Minnesota over two nights

A grain bin toppled by high winds in Kandiyohi County fell onto a car and killed a passenger inside on Thursday night, the second night in a row of tornado activity in Minnesota.

The National Weather Service confirmed the fatality occurred at 7 p.m. Thursday about two miles northeast of the town of Blomkest. Few other details were available, and a local dispatcher said no information would be immediately released.

A night earlier, the Weather Service confirmed, a tornado touched down in Coon Rapids, and there were initial reports of other touchdowns Thursday night in several greater Minnesota spots. A Cass County dispatcher said law enforcement was trying to confirm reports of a tornado touchdown in that county, and that lots of trees were down.

A blast of muggy heat followed Wednesday night's severe storms in the metro, which reached a record high of 91 degrees.

Wednesday night's tornado touched down at 8:27 p.m. in the northeastern part of Coon Rapids, Anoka County's largest suburb. The Weather Service's Twin Cities office said the tornado, with winds reaching 80 miles per hour, was 50 yards across and cut a path of damage 3 miles long.

There were no reports of deaths or serious injuries. A Coon Rapids city official said the worst-known damage was a tree that fell into a house, cleaving it in two but leaving two occupants and their four dogs uninjured.

It was the kind of storm "we hope we don't see again," said Chris O'Brien with the Weather Service.

Coon Rapids appeared to be the worst-hit in Anoka County, according to Tierney Peters with the Anoka County Sheriff's Office. But trees were down elsewhere across the metro, and power outages affected tens of thousands of customers.

In the east metro, no serious damage was reported, but some trees were down, said Laura Perkins with the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

Large trees were reported down in Brooklyn Park, where city crews on Thursday fanned out to remove the tree debris, some of it blocking traffic in places. High water caused some motorists to be stranded near the Rosedale Center mall in Roseville, authorities said.

By midmorning Thursday, Xcel Energy reported about 28,000 customers were still without electricity, down from nearly 80,000 during the peak of the storm. That included Hopkins High School, which canceled in-person learning for the day.

Winds topped out at 77 mph in Shakopee and clocked in at 60 mph or greater at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Hopkins, Anoka, Eden Prairie and Roseville, where the front doors of a Target store were blown out.

Hail 1 inch in diameter was reported in Woodbury and Newport, the Weather Service said.

In Minneapolis, a flash flood warning was issued and cars were stalled and partly submerged at 50th Street and Nicollet Avenue, 28th Street and Lyndale Avenue and 42nd Street and 38th Avenue. Flooding at the Mall of America also caused the light rail to temporarily stop service, and Metro Transit temporarily halted Green Line service because of high winds.

Some traffic lights and streetlights were also out across the metro area. The soccer field at Allianz Field in St. Paul also flooded, suspending Wednesday's game between Minnesota United and Colorado. The Bloomington Fire Department tweeted that firefighters responded to numerous incidents, including removing trees from roadways.

In southern Minnesota, possible tornadoes were reported near New Ulm and Storden, but none have been confirmed, O'Brien said. On Wednesday afternoon, storms dumped rain and hail across many parts of the state.

Behind the storms, temperatures will fall back into the upper 70s on Friday and low 70s Saturday and Sunday.

"We will be back to spring," O'Brien said.