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Three people are dead in North Dakota, and tens of thousands are still without power in Minnesota on Monday after powerful winds swept across the upper Midwest Friday and overnight Saturday.
National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Hurley says the complex storm system produced tornadic activity, large hail and strong wind gusts.
Cass County Sheriff Jesse Jahner said at a press conference Saturday that two men and a woman were killed at two separate locations in the town of Enderlin, North Dakota, late Friday. Enderlin is about 57 miles southwest of Fargo.
Timothy Lynch, lead forecaster with the weather service's Grand Forks office, said the storm had been confirmed as a tornado, but that crews were still working to determine its strength and highest wind speeds. He said the storm impacted the neighboring counties of Cass and Ransom.
"We still have people out investigating and gathering information on what happened. It was a pretty major event," Lynch told The Associated Press on Saturday.
A tornado warning was issued for Minnesota's Beltrami County just after midnight Saturday, with torrential rains causing flash flooding in downtown Bemidji and downed trees blocking dozens of roadways, according to county emergency manager Christopher Muller.
He described damage in the Bemidji area, located more than 200 miles northwest of Minneapolis, as "extensive," with scores of fallen power lines.
On Saturday afternoon, Beltrami County declared a state of emergency due to the storm damage. Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College campuses announced they will be closed Monday as crews asses damage.
The weather service's Grand Forks branch reported wind gusts of up to 106 mph at Bemidji Regional Airport just before 1 a.m. on Saturday.
"I cannot ever recall hearing a rushing wind like that!" Bemidji Mayor Jorge Prince posted on Facebook in the early hours Saturday. "Emerged from our basement to find our neighborhood with lots of trees down and several homes with severe damage."
Just before 2:30 a.m., Muller reported there were "roofs off buildings everywhere around Bemidji, vehicles flipped, windows blown in at the regional medical center," and likely "thousands of trees down."
He also noted at the time there were about "25 gas leaks" around Bemidji, and some apartment buildings "had their roofs torn off."
"We went out front and smelled gas and thought there was a gas leak, so we needed to get out of the house," said Bemidji resident Jake Schultz.
Displaced residents and those in need of assistance are urged to go to the Sanford Convention Center.
"A lot of the time, we're the first ones on the scene ... so people are usually still in shock," said Ben Lindbom, with Tree Pros. "This is as bad as I've seen."
Many Bemidji-area businesses posted on social media Saturday saying they were without power and closed for the day.
Mueller warned residents to prepare for "long-term power outages" because of damage to infrastructure.
As of early Monday morning, more than 17,000 customers in northern Minnesota are still without power, according to . The Beltrami County Emergency Management says it may take "the final customers a week to get power back."
On Saturday, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced Itasca State Park "experienced a traumatic wind event overnight" and has no power.
The DNR has closed all of the park's buildings and programming and says only vault toilets are available for visitors.
All roadways in the park are "currently passable" with the exception of Wilderness Drive, and its bike trail is also unpassable.
The park is about 30 miles southwest of Bemidji.
This weekend's storm clean-up effort came amid across , with .
Almost 59 million Americans were under an extreme heat warning Saturday, and another 84 million were under a heat advisory. Millions were also under .
