GRAND FORKS — A line of thunderstorms that blew through early Sunday morning caused wind damage in Greater Grand Forks and tornado warnings south of the city.
The National Weather Service office in Grand Forks reported that the line of thunderstorms caused wind gusts up to 73 mph as it went through the city shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday, July 27. The NWS has gotten reports of tree damage and parts of the city and the county, but not many reports of hail, which was a possibility with the storm.
“The line of severe storms had mainly winds as they came through Grand Forks County,” said Jennifer Ritterling, a NWS meteorologist. “I’ve seen several (wind damage) reports and some have called in with trees down and large branches.”
And as of Sunday morning, there was a chance that more storm weather could be on the way, into Sunday evening.
“There is a continued chance for some severe weather, albeit not as high as it was (Saturday),” Ritterling said. “Greatest chances are going to be south and east, more lake country than over Grand Forks.”
Two tornado warnings were posted south of Grand Forks as the storms went through, in the areas of Northwood and Thompson. All warnings have since expired.
Power was knocked out in parts of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, according to reports from Xcel Energy, East Grand Forks Water and Light and Grand Forks Emergency Management.
Crews are working to get power restored, and all outages in East Grand Forks were resolved Sunday morning. Outages in parts of Grand Forks continued into the morning, with around 1,324 customers without power as of 9:30 a.m., according to Grand Forks Emergency Management.
Damage throughout the city mostly involved downed tree branches, although construction signs were blown over and garbage cans were strewn throughout town.
Devin McCleary, an employee of the Grand Forks Parks Department, said he was called to work at roughly 7 a.m. He spent Sunday morning with a lift truck and chainsaw, clearing downed branches from streets.
“Right now, we’re just getting rid of hazards and the stuff that’s blocking the streets and safety issues and then we’ll come back through and actually clean it up,” he said.
The damage, he said, “is pretty decent, but I’ve seen worse,” he said.
The city did not receive any damage to infrastructure, according to Grand Forks City Administrator Todd Feland. The city is currently assessing tree damage and will be supporting the Grand Forks Park District in cleanup for trees that fell or received damage.
“The streets are strewn with leaves and branches, so we’ll get those cleaned up this week with street sweepers and see if we have to do some pick-up with trucks with some of the trees,” Feland said.
Unofficial rainfall numbers showed less than a quarter-inch in Sunday morning’s storm.
After Sunday, the weather is expected to calm, with highs in the mid-70s to 80s and mostly sunny weather.
Korrie Wenzel / Grand Forks Herald
Korrie Wenzel / Grand Forks Herald
Pamela Knudson / Grand Forks Herald
Voigt covers government in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks.
