ENDERLIN, N.D. (KFGO) – Three people are dead after a tornado outbreak overnight.
Storm spotters located two people who were killed in a tornado near Enderlin, North Dakota around 11:40 p.m. Friday. While investigating the deaths, Enderlin Fire was dispatched to another address, and firefighters found another person who had been killed in the tornado.
Alice and Enderlin firefighters, Casselton and Lisbon Ambulance, Cass County Deputies, North Dakota Highway Patrol troopers, and the Red River UAS team searched the area and conducted welfare checks. No one else was injured.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Timothy Lynch says several tornadoes touched down in Stutsman, Barnes, Ransom, and Cass Counties.
“We can’t really rate it until we see what kind of damage it produced,” Lynch says. “However, from what I saw on radar and first hand accounts that were sent to us via video, they look like they could potentially be very strong tornadoes.”
Multiple structures were destroyed.
The National Weather Service is assessing damage to determine exactly how many tornadoes touched down and their severity.
High winds ripped roofs off homes, tipped semis, and uprooted trees.
“Radar-indicated winds upwards of 110 miles-per-hour and several reports from NDAWN, personal weather stations reported 80, 90, 100 miles-per-hour winds,” Lynch says. A 106 mph gust was recorded in Bemidji.
Strong storms were behind the supercells that produced tornadoes in west-central North Dakota. National Weather Service Meteorologist James Telken in Bismarck says the line produced straight-line winds over 100-miles-per-hour, as well as a few isolated tornadoes.
The winds knocked down powerlines across the region. As of Saturday morning, 30,510 customers were without power in the southeast part of North Dakota. Over 54,600 Minnesota customers were without power in the north-central part of the state, with over 22,500 of those in Beltrami county.
Downed power lines south of Alice, N.D. (photo courtesy Greg Kempel)
Hail up to 3in in diameter was reported in Jamestown and in northwest Minnesota. .
In Fargo, damage was limited to a few broken tree branches. Several underpasses flooded as a result of the heavy rainfall.
Lynch says last night’s outbreak is one of the most active storms he’s seen in his 10 years with the Weather Service.
“In my time here, this has probably been one of the more widespread severe events, and definitely one of the most profound.”
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