Strong storms cause damage in south metro, western Wisconsin

Parts of the south metro and western Wisconsin were cleaning up after getting hit by some strong storms earlier Friday.

Storms blew into the metro around 3 a.m., bringing heavy rain and strong wind gusts.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has been tracking updates due to storm damage:

South metro

It was a sleepless morning for some people living in a Burnsville neighborhood who told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS they were shaken awake by the sound of large trees falling on their homes.

"I heard the wind and hail, and I looked out the window and saw all of the trees in the neighborhood just, like, straight line. I went upstairs to check on my husband and our dog, and I heard glass crashing in the back of the house," Burnsville resident Amanda Calmbacher said.

Another neighbor prepared for a long day of clean-up after a large tree fell on his driveway, blocking his garage.

The City of Burnsville said Friday afternoon that they expect all roads to be reopened by the end of the day Friday. Additionally, the city said that on Saturday, Sept. 18, they will continue to remove trees and debris from the hardest-hit areas. In the coming days, curbside tree and branch removal will also be provided for some parts of the city.

The National Weather Service says most of the storm damage reports it received in the metro have been in Burnsville, Savage, Richfield and Eagan.

"It sounded like a train coming down the road and all of a sudden, we saw trees and we saw all kinds of stuff from the roots on up," Burnsville resident Mike Huddleston said.

Meanwhile, clean-up was underway in other parts of the south metro.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS spotted crews cleaning up fallen branches along Oak Chase Road in Eagan.

By Friday afternoon, Xcel Energy reported 108,000 customers were affected by outages on Friday. As of 10 p.m. Friday, just shy of 9,300 people still didn’t have their power restored, according to the company.

Meanwhile, the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district started two hours late due to extensive storm damage in the south metro. Classes were canceled for Rosemount Middle and Elementary schools on Friday.

District officials said they would reassess and share an update later Friday morning.

Due to an extensive power outage, it was a distance learning day for Afton-Lakeland Elementary, Andersen Elementary, Lake Elmo Elementary, Oak-Land Middle School and Stillwater Area High School.

Some other schools in the Stillwater school district delayed their start times. Brookview, Lily Lake, Rutherford and Stillwater Middle School started two hours late Friday.

Farther south in Mankato, authorities reported a tree branch fell and ultimately killed a 4-year-old girl at Land of Memories Park Thursday night.

Western Wisconsin

Schools in Hudson, Wisconsin, also ran on a two-hour delay due to power outages.

According to the St. Croix County emergency manager, damage was concentrated in Hudson. Mostly, the Hudson Area Library and police department sustained significant damage.

The emergency manager reported outages throughout the county.

Hudson and the village of North Hudson declared states of emergency and may receive state funding.

The emergency manager said at last check Friday afternoon, there were no reports of injuries.

The National Weather Service is considering several factors in damage assessment, including possible tornado development and straight-line winds.