High winds toppled street lights and knocked tree limbs onto power lines in the Fargo-Moorhead area overnight, leaving some residents without electricity and keeping utility crews busy.
Xcel Energy spokeswoman Bonnie Lund said about 100 people were still without power at 6 a.m. this morning because of outages at half a dozen locations.
The outages were all wind-related, she said, as tree branches got tangled up with lines or fell onto them, in some cases causing transformers to blow.
Wind speeds of at least 46 mph and gusts of at least 64 mph were recorded late Tuesday at Hector International Airport in Fargo, according to the National Weather Service's website.
The wind had died down somewhat this morning, to 26 mph with a gust of 35 mph at about 8 a.m., but was still causing problems for line crews, Lund said.
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"If the winds continue, unfortunately we'll probably have to deal with more issues," she said.
As of 7 this morning, Fargo received 1.8 inches of rain, the weather service reported.
West Fargo Public Works Director Barry Johnson said the wind blew over signs and turned a couple of traffic signal heads, which city crews were moving back into place this morning, but otherwise there were no reports of significant damage.
Moorhead Operations Director Chad Martin said the city received about half a dozen calls about downed branches, including one about 10 inches in diameter.
Moorhead Public Service reported three fiberglass streetlight poles were snapped by the wind, at 30th Avenue and 22nd Street South, 42nd Avenue and Sixth Street South and Fourth Avenue and 34th Street South.
Tree branches also fell on primary and secondary power lines, causing about half a dozen outages, most of which were repaired by 9 p.m. Tuesday, MPS Operations Manager Joe Moore said.
