Thunderstorm leaves thousands in the dark
John McIntyre,  Star Tribune
June 8, 2005

Severe weather hit the Twin Cities overnight, leaving more than 94,000 custo
mers
without power and causing minor flooding in outlying areas. The outage
temporarily disabled the toll readers on the new Interstate Hwy. 394 tollway
.

In Goodhue County, officials were searching for a man whose pickup truck was
found in a flooded ditch early today.

Today's outage was the biggest in two years Xcel Energy, spokesman Ed Legge 
said
this morning. The previous one also was caused by a storm packing a combinat
ion
of lightning, wind and rain.

"It was about this time of year, too," he said. "It is the hardest thing on 
our
system."

By 8 a.m. Xcel was mobilizing all Minnesota crews to repair downed lines, Le
gge
said.

He warned against getting close to down power lines or home feeder lines. Ca
ll
911 or the power company (1-800-895-1999) instead.

Big one"If you see a downed power line, don't drive over it," he said. "Assu
me
that it's live. Go in another direction. If you see a (home) service line do
wn,
don't let the dog or kids out in the yard.''

Xcel Energy reported at 10:10 a.m. that 93,296 customers had lost power: Alm
ost
84,169 in the western metro area and more than 9,127 in the east metro.

The power outage on the west side of the metro had one noticeable effect for
motorists who travel the new I-394 toll road -- a free ride.

The toll readers -- gadgets that cause toll information to be sent from
transponders in commuters' cars to the service center in Golden Valley --
weren't working, said Nick Thompson, project manager for the tollway

That means motorists won't be charged for this morning's commute, he said.

While the lanes are open, drivers of single-occupant vehicles are still requ
ired
to have a transponder or risk a ticket and fine, Thompson said. MnDOT will b
e
contacting toll lane customers with updates later today.

The outage didn't just disable MnDOT's toll technology.

The power outage had disabled some of MnDOT's changeable message signs and
traffic cameras, particularly on the west side of the metro area, along Hwys
.
169, 100 and I-394 and I-494, said Todd Kramascz, spokesman at the Regional
Transportation Management Center in Roseville.

In southeastern Minnesota, a search was on this morning for a 47-year-old
Hayfield man missing after his pickup truck sank in a rain-swollen creek.
Authorities found the unoccupied truck early today near County Rd. 1 and Cou
nty
Rd. 30 in Wanamingo Township, said Kris Weiss, administrative assistant to t
he
Goodhue County sheriff.

Deputies discovered the man's identity through the license plate numbers, an
d
then contacted his family, Weiss said. The missing man was apparently headin
g to
work in Cannon Falls.

Goodhue County Sheriff Dean Albers, who was at the scene this morning said t
hat
about the time the man's truck went into the creek, another vehicle also was
swept away.

That driver of that car, Mona Boomgaarden, said was talking on her cellular
phone to her husband, Dwight, when she said the creek along the road came up
 and
washed her car off the road about 10:30 p.m.

The grandmother told WCCO-AM that her car went dead as it filled with water,
then the dome light suddenly turn on and a window rolled down allowing her t
o
escape. "It definitely was a miracle,'' she said.

She was swept along by the current until she reached a fence post and held o
n.
She screamed for help as flashes of lightning lit up the countryside. Her
husband was able to direct rescuers to her. "I had no clue if they could see
 me
out there,'' she said.

Boomgaarden's car was recovered a half-mile downstream.

The unnamed creek, which drains into the north fork of the Zumbrota River,
usually has about a foot of water in it, Albers said. But with the heavy rai
ns,
it rose as much as 20 feet out of its banks and flooded the road with as muc
h as
2 feet of water, he said.

"It's just a quiet, little creek that has a little bit of water running thro
ugh
it," he said. It just came up fast and recedes fast as those flash floods wi
ll
do."

Members of the Goodhue County Sheriff's Department, the sheriff's posse, the
Wanamingo Fire Department and the Department of Natural Resources were helpi
ng
with the search, Weiss said.

Goodhue County Emergency Management Director Gary Fried said several rural
highways were closed in the area, and could stay that way for much of the da
y.
"I think the water's still going up in some of those areas so it could be a
while,'' Fried said.

Crews were sandbagging in low areas of downtown Zumbrota, Fried said, but as
 of
midmorning Wednesday no more volunteers were needed. That could change if th
e
water keeps rising, he said.

Weatherwise, the storm was unremarkable. It produced just 1.28 inches of rai
n in
Edina, 1.04 inches in Savage, .51 inches in Fridley and just under half an i
nch
in Eagan. Temperatures, which reached a high of 91 degrees on Tuesday, fell 
this
morning into the 60s as rain cooled the air.

Wind gusts in Stearns County reached 61 miles per hour, according to KSTP-TV
.

The thunderstorm concerned officials as it entered the metro area because it
 was
travelling slowly -- about 15 miles per hour. A slow-moving storm coupled wi
th
heavy rains is more likely to cause flooding. But the latest storm, which no
w
has moved into Wisconsin, picked up speed to about 40 miles per hour.

Light to moderate rain continued in the Twin Cities through mid-morning.

The National Weather Service predicted that more thunderstorms were likely
Wednesday afternoon and evening in southeastern Minnesota and western Wiscon
sin.
Those storms could contain large hail and damaging winds, the service said.

In spite of passing quickly through the Twin Cities, the storm created its s
hare
of damage.

Traffic concerns included numerous accidents on metro highways. A tree fell 
on
Park Avenue at 35th Street. And authorities were reporting traffic light out
ages
on Hwy. 169 at Interstate Hwy. 494.

Authorities urged motorists to use caution when driving through construction
zones.

Minor flooding was reported on I-494 near Hwy. 62.

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