High winds associated with a strong thunderstorm last Thursday evening caused some building damage, downed trees and power outages across most of western Pope County.

The Cyrus, Starbuck and Lowry cities were hit the hardest with mostly tree damage.  There were about 24 trees down in Starbuck, according to Starbuck Fire Chief Doug Noyes.  

The storm hit the area at about 7 p.m. and the power in the Starbuck, Lowry and rural areas went out about the same time and remained out through the day on Friday, with most  residents in that area finally getting power restored on Saturday evening.

The cause was winds in excess of 80 mph knocking down power poles and lines from the substation on County Road 24 between Starbuck and Lowry with powerline damage stretching toward Cyrus.  

Many Starbuck residents didn’t have power restored until about 8 p.m. on Friday.  It was estimated that there were about 1,300 reported households still without power in Pope County on Friday afternoon.

Lowry residents had power restored about 1:45 p.m. on Friday. But may rural homes in that area remained without power into Saturday.  Crews were working to restore power most of the day on Friday and Saturday.

More than 70,000 homes and businesses remained without power across Central Minnesota on Friday as damage assessment and cleanup continued after the night of widespread severe weather.

Minnewaska Area Schools were closed  Friday, May 13 due to the large portion of the school district being without power and extensive damage in many parts of the district. 

The National Weather Service office said last Friday that it would send two survey teams to western Minnesota to assess the damage and determine if any of the damage may have been caused by tornadoes.

There were several reports of funnel clouds and possible tornadoes on Thursday evening. But widespread, hurricane-force straight-line winds appear to have caused most of the damage, it was stated.

Wind gusts of 94 mph were reported at the airport in Madison, Minn., as well as at Verndale, Minn., in Wadena County, on Thursday evening. A weather station at Alexandria in Douglas County, reported an 87 mph wind gust.

The strong winds also overturned semis along Interstate 94 near Alexandria, forcing a closure of the eastbound lanes Thursday night.  There were ongoing reports on Friday of flooding covering some roads in central and western Minnesota due to heavy rain. Docks and lifts on Pelican and Minnewaska were submerged Friday due to high water.

Find more photos of storm damage in our photo gallery.