Storm downs trees, power lines in area

A severe thunderstorm that produced damaging winds on Saturday afternoon in southwestern Minnesota uprooted trees in Canby, and felled others in Porter, St. Leo, Granite Falls, Sacred Heart and Minneota.
Canby was hit the hardest in the area with winds reportedly at 72 mph uprooting large trees and causing some minor structural damage to homes. Canby also had power knocked out.
According to the National Weather Service in Chanhassen, the storm caused tree and structural damage from Canby and Madison to Granite Falls and Sacred Heart.
No tornadoes were reported.
The storm, which began around 12:40 p.m. and lasted until just before 3 p.m. in our area, felled power lines and caused power outages in many communities.
It was reported that winds speeds a few miles northwest of Granite Falls had reached 70 mph around 1:35 p.m. Around 2 p.m., the city of Granite Falls was hit hard with high winds and heavy rain with large tree branches damaged, causing roof damage to several homes and to the Yellow Medicine East High School.
There was also a power outage in the city of Granite Falls and its rural areas, as well as some localized flooding.
Several streets in Granite Falls and Canby were blocked by the fallen tree branches. City workers and homeowners were soon seen using chainsaws to clean up the damage in those communities.
In Minneota, a few large branches came down and numerous small branches were seen strewn on streets and lawns. A large limb from an autumn blaze maple tree was blown down and was lying on the lawn of the Paul and Sis Fontenyn home on North Jefferson Street.
"We were watching the storm out the window and saw the branch go down," said Sis.
Another large branch fell across East Second Street in Minneota, causing single-lane traffic momentarily until city workers removed it.
Winds in Minneota were reportedly around 45 mph with heavy rain.
The Minneota Mudhens game was postponed on Saturday in Rosen and reschedule to Sunday morning.
Porter also reported some tree branches down. Josh Sumption had a large ash tree at his home damaged by the storm. The tree also knocked down a Midco line.
"The weird thing is it was really the only tree down and not much other damage in town," Sumption said. "Nothing compared to Canby, I got very lucky and there is no damage other than another tree that was hit by the one that fell."
A large maple tree was split in half and fell on the edge of Leroy and Audrey Kack's roof around 1 p.m., damaging their gutters and shingles. Another maple tree in the Kack's back yard was split and will likely have to be cut down.