CHANHASSEN, Minn. — Minnesotans and Wisconsinites experienced severe weather Thursday afternoon, resulting in four reports of tornadoes.
The National Weather Service said law enforcement reported a tornado touched down east of Isanti. There are also reports of tornadoes in Wisconsin's St. Croix and Peirce counties. The NWS will need to survey the areas to confirm if there were tornadoes, and what to rate them.
"The sound came up and it literally sounded like a freight train," Isanti County Commissioner Todd Christensen told KARE 11.
In the metro area, Xcel Energy is reporting over 21,000 customers are out of power as of 9:15 p.m.
Visitors at the Minnesota State Fair were told to take shelter around 4 p.m. by the NWS. KARE 11's Lauren Leamanczyk said fairgoers sought shelter in the Grandstand, the Coliseum, Ag Building and other designated shelters.
Meanwhile, our crew at the fair was forced to shut down Thursday's planned live evening broadcasts, something KARE 11's Rena Sarigianopoulos said she's never encountered in her 19 years of anchoring from the Barn.
In Isanti County, KARE 11 spoke with one homeowner who came home to find multiple trees from his yard had crashed into his house.
The NWS preliminarily reported multiple trees down and power outages in New Ulm, seen by trained weather spotters just before 3 p.m. Thursday. According to the New Ulm director of utility, power was knocked out in the northwest area of the city due to high winds and trees on powerlines. Crews were dispatched and the main lines are back up as of 3:30 p.m.