After a sunny Sunday afternoon lull, strong storms were again toppling trees with heavy rain and strong winds. Early Monday morning storms cut off electricity to thousands in central Minnesota.

Monday’s storm left thousands out of power and led to difficulty in getting through Crow Wing County, leaving residents asking how will they be reassured.

Crow Wing Power has a new meter system that can tell what a predicted power outage area is. This allows them to verify it and have their crews dispatched to specific locations. Initially, there were 11,000 members without power, a figure that has now been surpassed, considering how different this storm was.

Monday’s storm was widespread and cut a very unique swath that went through Leader and the Pillager area over to Pequot Lakes, Crosslake, Emily, Fifty Lakes, and it hit very hard, leaving massive pockets to clean up and the county asking for extra help.

Crow Wing Power had 60-plus people on the ground Tuesday and have added contractors to help the crews who have worked all day Monday and all night Tuesday.

The strong winds and heavy rains were all part of Memorial Day. Unfortunately, with many trees down, thousands are still left without power.

Homeowner Paul Miller said the storm came through in a flurry Monday night and that it sounded like a freight train coming through. As he and his wife were looking at the lake, he noticed his boat lift get picked up out of the water and flipped upside down. He also realized a little later while peering out the front that a tree had fallen on his truck.

Miller, along with many Crow Wing Power members, still have no water & power or ways to get out. According to Crow Wing Power, it still may be awhile before it will come on.

The best way to wait this out is to find someone with electricity and go there, but if that’s not an option, residents are asked to hunker down and stay safe as the county is doing everything as safely and quickly as they can.

Crow Wing Power also says to residents that they should let their line workers use their chainsaws and clean things up. They’re asked to please not clean up themselves, as there could be downed power lines within the tangled trees.

By — Hanky Hazelton