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Andrew Krueger

Tornado count now 10 from last week's storms in southern Minnesota

Minnesota storms
Maurine Caspari stands in the backyard of her Morristown, Minn., home, which was destroyed by an overnight storm, on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Several tornadoes struck as severe storms packing powerful winds and heavy rain left a trail of destruction across southern Minnesota overnight, the National Weather Service said Friday.
Philip Weyhe | Northfield News via AP

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The National Weather Service continues to survey damage from last week's severe storms in southern Minnesota.

As of Saturday night crews had confirmed 10 tornadoes touched down last Thursday, though that total may be revised as more information comes in. The Weather Service said additional tornadoes may be added to the list, and separate tornadoes on the list may be combined into single, longer tracks.

The strongest of the tornadoes surveyed so far appears to be the one that caused major damage to homes in Morristown, in Rice County. That tornado rated an EF2 on the 1-5 Enhanced Fujita scale, meaning winds of up to 135 mph.

Other tornadoes confirmed by the Weather Service include:

  1. Just west of Ceylon in Martin County, brief EF0 (65-85 mph)

  2. Granada in Martin County, EF1 (86-110 mph)

  3. Northwest of Janesville near the Blue Earth-Waseca county line to Waterville in Le Sueur County, EF1

  4. Northwest of Faribault in Rice County, from Roberds Lake to near Interstate 35, EF1

  5. Northfield in Rice County to Cannon Falls in Goodhue County, EF1

  6. Cannon River Wilderness Area in Rice County to between Dennison and Stanton in Goodhue County, EF1

  7. Southwest side of Cannon Falls, EF1

  8. South of Dundas to southeast of Northfield in Rice County, EF1

  9. Medford, on the Steele-Rice county line, to between Nerstrand and Kenyon in Goodhue County, EF1

    The Weather Service continues to survey damage for signs of possible tornado touchdowns from Cannon Falls east toward Pierce County, Wis., and from Owatonna northeast toward Zumbrota.

    Minnesota storms
    Damage from severe storms is seen at the Faribault Municipal Airport on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Faribault, Minn. The storms swept across the region Thursday night, producing several tornadoes.
    David Joles | Star Tribune via AP

    Xcel Energy reported Sunday afternoon that it expected power to be restored to all customers by the end of the day. More than 21,500 Xcel customers in southern Minnesota lost power from Thursday's storms, with more than 77,000 outages total in Xcel's service areas across Minnesota and Wisconsin.

    The utility said about 450 workers were making repairs on Sunday, including crews from Wisconsin, South Dakota and Iowa.

    "In the hardest-hit areas, transmission lines are down and infrastructure needs to be rebuilt," Xcel said in a news release. "Crews replaced 175 downed power poles and miles of power lines."

    From Saturday: Storms spawned at least five tornadoes in southern Minnesota

    • From Friday: Severe storms, tornadoes leave path of destruction across southern Minnesota

    Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn on Saturday told MPR News that the storm damage was the worst he had seen in his career.

    "We've dealt with a couple floods in our county and I would say that this was — obviously because it covered a greater area and damaged more property... This is probably in my 30 years in law enforcement the biggest storm we've seen here in Rice County," he said.

    No injuries were reported from the storms. Damage estimates are not yet available.

    The swath of the most severe damage extended from the Fairmont area northeast to Fairbault, Waterville and Owatonna, and on to Northfield and Cannon Falls.

    In addition to tornadoes, the storms produced damaging straight-line winds. The Weather Service reported that major damage at the Faribault airport was caused by straight-line winds estimated at 110 mph.