Power Restoration Progress As Of Midday Friday
Minnesota Power's crews continue to work hard to restore power to the tens of thousands of those left in the dark after Thursday morning's storms. Crews began work again early this morning, managing to restore power to roughly 19,000 people by about 8:30 this morning, according to Minnesota Power's Twitter page. This takes the estimated number of people without power from 46,000 (where it was last night) to 27,000 this morning.
As of 11:30 this morning, Minnesota Power was reporting several crews working on the scene in various neighborhoods in the Duluth area.
At 12:45 Friday afternoon, Minnesota Power shared that they completed work in the Crosby/Deerwood area in Central Minnesota, and have moved that crew to the Island Lake area.
While significant progress is being made, it is still projected it may be up to a few days before power is restored completely in the region - particularly in the Duluth area. As representatives detailed in yesterday's press conference about the storm, the Duluth area is the most challenging part of this restoration due to the extreme nature of damage done to infrastructure.
In the meantime, hot temperatures on Friday have people looking for relief. Multiple cooling centers are open around the region today to allow people a place to cool down, and in some cases grab a hot shower if needed. Luckily temperatures are foretasted to be much cooler this weekend, reducing worries about heat and air conditioning.