Two rounds of storms strike Twin Cities, leaving many without power and pounding Minnesota State Fair

Minnesota State Fair employee Tom Koeck was sweeping up fallen tree branches and loading them into a truck near the Leinie Lodge Bandshell on Tuesday morning after several waves of severe storms made a mess of the fairgrounds and briefly delayed its opening.

The storm left upward of 140,000 Twin Cities residents without power, though that number was falling by Tuesday morning and Xcel Energy said "most customers" would have it restored by the end of Thursday. The storms, which struck with intensity across much of the metro and other parts of central Minnesota, left many downed trees and other damage in the wake.

Debris covered the fairgrounds in Falcon Heights "from north to south," said Koeck, who works in the operations division. He was still cutting back trees and clearing debris as customers finally started to filter in. In what may be a first, at least in recent history, fair officials postponed opening for the day by two hours, from 7 to 9 a.m., so crews and vendors had time to clean up and repair damage.

Storms packing winds up to 60 mph — as strong as a tropical storm — roared through the Twin Cities and central Minnesota on Monday evening. The second burst moved through the metro around 6 a.m. Tuesday, carrying similarly dangerous winds.

Brent Hewett, a Chanhassen-based meteorologist who was filling a shift Tuesday at the National Weather Service's office at the fairgrounds, said it was the Tuesday morning storm that did most of the damage to the fairgrounds. But the inclement weather on Monday led the State Fair to call off the Happy Together Tour show at the grandstand. Those who stuck around were rewarded with with a double rainbow and orange sky.

Monday's line of storms toppled large trees in Isanti, Maplewood, Chanhassen and Minneapolis, where radar indicated a tree 23 inches in diameter at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design was felled, the Weather Service said. Wind gusts over 60 mph were reported in Richfield, Eden Prairie and North St. Paul, and over 50 mph in Deephaven and Plato.

Monday saw highs in the 90s combined with high dew point readings, which pushed the heat index well above the 100-degree mark all across southern Minnesota. The most oppressive heat index — what it feels like — was 114 degrees in Albert Lea, with Carver and New Ulm right behind at 113 degrees, the Weather Service said.

The official highest heat index Monday at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 103 degrees. Tuesday brought cooler temps and cloudy skies, and Wednesday is forecast to deliver partly sunny skies with a high of 79. Another chance of rain enters the forecast on Thursday.

Operations staff at the fairgrounds were back on site by 5 a.m. Tuesday hoping to have it ready for visitors. Vendors and other workers were allowed in throughout the morning, but visitors were kept out until 9 a.m. Damage appeared widespread but not heavy, though with a few exceptions.

"I'm wiping benches, sweeping sidewalks and making the place welcoming," Lynne Blomstrand Moratzka, a Minnesota State Fair Foundation volunteer from Scandia, said on Tuesday as she worked outside the J.V. Bailey House near the fair's offices.

Several vendors said the weather caused a few headaches but no major problems. Junia Joseph-Benham, who runs the KaiBi Mobile Family Care Center at Carnes and Underwood, a free space for parents with infants and toddlers, said she and her team started battening down the hatches at about 6 p.m. on Monday. One of their tents was damaged enough that she had to run out for a replacement, which she was setting up Tuesday morning.

"Everything is A-OK here," said Dave Chlebeck, who has traveled from Boise, Idaho, every summer for the past 21 years to run the fair's popular Skyride attraction. He said they shut down for the evening on Monday at about 6:30 p.m., did some safety inspections and were ready for customers again on Tuesday morning.

At Minnesota's Black Entrepreneur State Fair on a stretch off Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis, wind gusts sent weighted booths into the sky. Destinee Shelby, the founder of the Black State Fair, said about 50 volunteers stopped by to help clean up, and said a variety of businesses helped by donating new vendor tents.

"Tents were flying in the air; hit a few people," Shelby said. "We were just trying to get people to safety. Nobody was hurt bad."

Anyone who wishes to donate to support the Black State Fair can do so online at blackstatefair.org.

Back at the big fair, the Minnesota Historical Society posted on Instagram that its booth would remain closed Tuesday because of storm damage. And Summer Lakes Beverage, along Underwood north of Randall, took a hard hit in the second round of storms on Tuesday morning, leaving it mostly piled in a heap. A Department of Health inspector on the scene late Tuesday morning said it appeared to be the only structure on the fairgrounds that got totally knocked over.

"The Minnesota State Fair has long been known as the great Minnesota Get-Together, but after last night the State Fair is also known as the great Minnesota pulls-together," Renee Alexander, the fair's CEO, said Tuesday at a news conference.

Alexander said one employee was hurt during the cleanup effort Tuesday morning but not seriously. All vendors are required to carry insurance, Alexander said, and the fair does not provide extra assistance in the event booths are damaged.

Soren Swenson, a 15-year-old from Mounds View, was working at the Corn Roast booth across from the grandstand on Monday night as the street started to flood — about a half a foot of water deep, Swenson said. Fox 9 posted video of Swenson and a group of co-workers belly-flopping into the water.

"Yeah, I enjoyed it," Swenson said Tuesday morning. He was back at the fairgrounds by 7 a.m., he said, as everyone helped clean up the mess.

Staff writer Louis Krauss contributed to this article.