Flights diverted, 125,000 without power as storm slams Minnesota's twin cities; Xcel Energy working to restore service

After the powerful storm system swept through the Twin Cities on Sunday, July 27, over 125,000 customers were still without power as of Tuesday, July 29. Xcel Energy announced Monday, July 28, that it had restored power to over 85 per cent of customers who lost electricity during Sunday night's storms across Minnesota, as reported by CBS.

In that Sunday storm, wind gusts exceeding 70 mph tore through southern parts of the region shortly after 9 p.m. CDT, downing trees and power lines and triggering severe weather alerts.

The National Weather Service reported a damage trail stretching from Mankato to the Twin Cities, linked to the northern edge of a destructive derecho system that earlier hit northern Iowa with wind speeds topping 120 mph.


As of Tuesday, July 29, (12.26 am CDT), PowerOutage.us map showed nearly 110,473 of Xcel Energy’s customers without power.

Other major providers also reported outages: Connexus Energy had nearly 4,747 customers offline, Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative listed over 5029 outages, and MiEnergy Cooperative reported 6,161 affected households.

Flights headed for Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport were diverted to cities including Rochester, Duluth, Des Moines, and Sioux Falls, with some aircraft circling in airspace waiting for conditions to improve.

Xcel Energy stated that they have deployed more than 1,000 field workers and contractors, prioritizing large outages while warning that scattered smaller ones may take longer to resolve.

Xcel urges customers to avoid downed or sagging power lines. If you see one, stay back and call 1-800-895-1999 to report it.

Additionally, the outage map from PowerOutage.us labeled 28,710 people from Iowa and 36,699 without electricity.