July went out with a bang across Northern Minnesota as a band of severe thunderstorms featuring strong winds swept across the region Wednesday, July 31, taking down trees and power lines in its path.
Beyond snarling power supplies across the region, fallen trees crossed roadways, fell on vehicles and uprooted people's yards. Large, old white pines came crashing down in Diamond Point Park, which sits on the shores of Lake Bemidji near the Bemidji State University campus. The damage led city officials to close the park Thursday for cleanup efforts.
Wind speeds ranging from 45 to more than 60 mph were recorded after storms fired up in the late afternoon. Dozens of 911 calls began reporting downed power lines and outages on an otherwise hot and humid day.
Among those losing power were nearly 9,000 Lake Country Power customers in the northeast, including those near McGregor, Lake Vermilion, Side Lake, Moose Lake and south of Highway 169 between Grand Rapids and Hibbing.
Hibbing Public Utilities reported trees on power lines across the city leading to outages there. And Minnesota Power reported outages in Menahga, Nisswa, Deerwood, and Alborn, each affecting between 100 and 700 customers.
Power outages occurred in northwestern Minnesota as well. Fergus Falls-based Ottertail Power said 1,933 customers lost power in the storm, and Beltrami Electric reporting 16 outages and 287 members affected.
By Thursday morning, power had been almost entirely restored, with 250 Lake Country Power customers still without electricity.
Wednesday was also the official start of the Lake Bemidji Dragon Boat Festival, which kicked off with a taco fundraiser for the United Way of Bemidji Area that was canceled midway through because of the weather.
Beltrami County Emergency Management Director Chris Muller said the wind reached 67 mph at the Bemidji Regional Airport, but higher gusts likely occurred where the storm hit downtown and Diamond Point Park.
"It's a very loved place in Bemidji, and I know that a number of people, including myself, hate seeing those old-growth trees go down, because it takes so long to replace them," Muller said.
Bemidji Parks and Recreation Director Marcia Larson said Diamond Point will be closed as cleanup is underway, with cleanup of the downtown parks already complete to make way for the rest of the Dragon Boat Festival.
"Everyone was safe, so we're appreciative of that," Larson said. "We have just closed the park for today and we're trying to keep the trails closed through there. So we're just encouraging people to find alternate places to recreate for the next few days."
Friday is expected to be another hot summer day, with scattered storms possible Saturday and more storms predicted for Monday.
