Power Outage in International Falls, MN

Numerous trees and powerlines were downed by the winds.

A tree was reported down on a power line along County Road 2 near the International Falls Airport.

Trees were down along Highway 65 near Littlefork with some of the trees taking down power lines as well.

Bleachers were damaged at the fairgrounds and a tree was down on a power line in Littlefork.

A photo was received via social media of a large tree down on a power line near the Island View Lodge.

Numerous large trees were uprooted and snapped in International Falls leading to multiple power outages.

A few trees were blown down onto power lines.

The winds knocked out the power.

The winds knocked out the power.

Power lines were blown down near the intersection of Route 53 and County Road 332.

Lightning struck on insulator, which shut down power substations in International Falls and Kabetogama, leaving 1,800 residents without power until 7:30 am CST.

Winter came early for much of the Northland in October. Some areas received upwards of a foot of snow while other areas received very little. The Lake Superior shoreline was heavily damaged by relentless waves caused by strong off lakes winds that gusted over 50 mph for many hours. The UMD buoy on the western tip of Lake Superior recorded a peak wind gust of 43 mph with steady winds of 35 to 40 mph overnight and most of the following day, Friday, October 27th. The buoy recorded waves of 10 to 16 feet. The weather monitoring equipment at the McQuade safe harbor recorded a peak wind of 45 mph. The winds and subsequent waves and high surf caused portions of the lake walk in Duluth to get torn up and strewn with rocks and debris. The snow began in the afternoon of the 26th and spread eastward. The official snowfall total for Duluth was 10.6 for the record October single day snowfall along with a new record daily maximum snowfall. The heavy, wet snow took down trees, branches, and power lines, leaving folks without power in areas of northern Minnesota, including Duluth and International Falls. Onshore waves and strong winds off of Lake Superior pummeled the shoreline around Duluth throwing rocks and upending concrete-based walkways. Portions of the the Duluth Lakewalk, Brighton Beach, Canal Park, and Park Point were damaged. A disaster declaration was authorized by Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton for $2.12 million from the state and $1.38 million from the local governments totaling $3.5 million for repairs and cleanup. $2.5 million in damage was just in the city of Duluth alone with damage found also along Scenic Highway 61.

Heavy rain and heavy snow caused flooding, closed schools and caused power outages. The snow began as rain late on the 16th and quickly switched over to snow in most of northeast Minnesota, but remained as rain for most of the day near Lake Superior in Duluth. The heavy, wet snow caused extremely slippery roads and brought down trees, limbs and power lines. Many schools were cancelled on the 17th. The highest snow amounts were in the Minnesota Arrowhead and the Border Region where amounts ranged from 6 inches to over a foot. The areas that had over a foot of snow were in the Arrowhead just inland from Lake Superior. Some specific amounts include 13 inches at the Lutsen Mountains, 12 inches at Tofte and Taconite Harbor. The Duluth National Weather Service office had 9.2 inches and Internaitnal Falls had 7.2 inches of snow.

Snow began on the evening of April 15th and continued through the following morning. Heavy snow brought down branches and trees, snapping power lines. At the height of the storm, 14,000 Lake County Power Company customers were without power. Some of the customers were without power for three days.||The area hardest hit, with 6 to 11 inches of snow, were along and north of the Iron Range, from Grand Rapids to Tower. Individual snowfall reports include 11 inches at Chisholm and near Orr, 10 inches at Togo and 6 to 10 inches at Ray, Dixon, Wirt, Cook, Bigfork and Kabetogama.

Freezing rain caused ice up to one-half inch thick to accumulate on roads, sidewalks, trees and power lines. There were many reports of tree damage and sporadic power outages.