Tuesday storm knocks out power to many, downs trees and branches

May 21—Parts of Mower County are without power tonight while crews across the county are busy documenting damage as a consequence of Tuesday night's storms that roared through the area.

Mower and surrounding counties were placed under a severe thunderstorm warning just after 5 p.m. for a long line of storms sweeping through the area. In its wake several trees and branches were noted down across Austin with some reports coming across scanner traffic of the same in parts of the county.

The storm also left some Austin and rural areas without power. According the Freeborn-Mower Co-op outage map the heaviest areas of those without power is in Windom and Lyle townships. The map noted that 204 and 281 customers respectively are without power as of around 6 p.m. Currently, most all customers in the service area have power back.

Storm spotters across the area reported high wind gusts associated with the system between 45 and 64 mph. A power pole was reported broken along Highway 56 in Mower County and power lines were reported down in the Hollandale area as well.

According to the National Weather Service, the area remains under a tornado watch and flood watch until 9 p.m. this evening.