Branch by snapped branch, Brian Carpenter worked to clear his storm-riddled yard in Richfield on Monday.

“Just had to take out the chainsaw and start cutting the branches down and just picking up the brush,” he said, taking a short break from dragging branches down a hill from his yard to the side of his driveway before returning for more.

“You know, just picking up the aftermath of it.”

Several blocks over, neighbors gathered outside where they said the air was cooler on Monday afternoon than in their homes. The weekend storm took out power on their side of the street.

“I did look over and my alarm clock was dead, and I knew that power was out,” Sue Gunaca laughed.

“But now it’s been two days,” neighbor Darcy Kollodge chimed in.

“It’s never been this long,” Gunaca said.

“It’s hot, it’s gross. It’s just — it’s horrible,” Maya Frydenlund commented.

In south Minneapolis, large, old trees snapped like twigs, and in Monticello, baseball-sized hail fell from the sky.

In all, about 135,000 people across the Twin Cities metro and western Wisconsin lost power early Sunday morning, according to Xcel Energy Regional Vice President John Marshall.

“We’re making really good progress,” Marshall said during a Monday afternoon interview.

It’s not the biggest storm-related power outage he’s experienced in his decade-long career with the company, but it is the biggest of the summer season to date, he said.

“It’s a pretty widespread impact with a lot of rain, a lot of saturated ground, huge whole trees toppling over,” Marshall continued.

He said crews are typically able to restore power within 24 hours, but the size of the storm overnight on Saturday — coupled with on-and-off rain all of Sunday — slowed restoration, creating a hot, powerless couple of days for tens of thousands.

Xcel Energy brought in out-of-state crews to catch up. On Monday, Marshall tallied about 1,250 workers working on power lines.

“Really appreciate everyone’s patience. I know folks are struggling to be without power,” he stressed. “We’re hoping to get almost everybody, if not everybody, restored by the end of today, Monday.”

For select homes that have a mast with a line connecting to a utility pole, Marshall asked homeowners to make sure their masts did not topple over or get damaged during the storm. If a mast was impacted, he said an electrician will need to reinstall it safely before Xcel can work to restore power there.

Marshall expected power will be reconnected for virtually all metro customers by the time it gets dark on Monday.

Xcel Energy customers can track and report power outages through the utility’s website.