Severe Thunderstorms Rip Up Trees, Tear Off Roofs, and Knock Out Power

According to the National Weather Service, wind gusts from the thunderstorms reached up to 80 miles per hour knocking over trees and ripping off roofs.

FARGO, ND – As the region woke up, public works and power crews had a lot on their plate.

According to the National Weather Service, wind gusts from the thunderstorms reached up to 80 miles per hour knocking over trees and ripping off roofs Sunday.

Xcel Energy says storms in the Fargo and Grand Forks areas caused significant damage to their power lines causing several thousand power outages.

Two tornadoes touched down in Kulm and Ashley, North Dakota.

A lot of the damage in Fargo was concentrated along University Drive, and stretching from 13th Ave South to North Fargo.

Power outages turned traffic lights into 4-way stops down a significant stretch of University and 10th Street in Downtown Fargo.

Some businesses along those stretches, like Brew Bird on University, had to close its doors for the day as power had still not been restored in time for lunch or dinner.

The restaurant told us that most of their cold products has to be thrown out.

In Dilworth, the damage was minimal, with their maintenance department cleaning up most of the mess by the early afternoon.

Public works crews are doing their best to clean up the damage, it’s possible they will have more of a mess to take care of Tuesday.

Power has been restored to much of the F-M area, and the street lights along University Drive as well as 10th Street are now working.