Central Minnesota Storms Bring Flash Flooding and Hail To St. Cloud Saturday
UNDATED (WJON News) -- A damper was literally put on the Fourth of July for much of Central Minnesota. A severe thunderstorm system moved through much of the area, including St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids, Saturday afternoon and early evening.
The severe weather moved into the eastern part of St. Cloud at around 4:50 p.m. with heavy rain. By 5:00 p.m., strong winds blew on and off, and pea-sized hail came down for about 20 minutes. The heavy rain continued until around 6:15 p.m.
Stearns, Benton, and Sherburne counties were under a Flash Flood Warning until 8:00 p.m after the heaviest part of the storm system moved through the area. Stearns County Emergency Management says they had to rescue people from their cars after they got stuck under the 9th Avenue bridge, and the downtown St. Cloud area also saw some flooding. They also say there was a significant impact to farm crops north of Melrose.
A tornado warning for northwestern Stearns County was also issued at about 4:10 p.m. Radar indicated a severe storm system over Melrose was capable of producing a tornado. Cities affected by the tornado warning included Melrose, Meire Grove, New Munich, and Freeport.
The storm system started moving through Central Minnesota at about 3:00 p.m. in the Browerville area of Todd County. The National Weather Service issued a number of severe thunderstorm warnings for Stearns, Benton, Sherburne, Morrison, Todd, Meeker, Wright, Kandiyohi, Kanabec, and Mille Lacs counties. Sunday is looking fairly calm, with the next chance for severe weather on Monday night.
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