Three Confirmed Dead In North Dakota Derecho-Spawned Tornadoes
A derecho passed over the entirety of North Dakota on Friday night. Stretching more than 400 miles from Montana to Minnesota, the thunderstorm complex produced multiple tornadoes and wreaked havoc across the state.
With devastation covering the vast distance of the state, reports were only beginning to emerge on Saturday morning. The Cass County Sheriff's Department confirmed that three people had died as a result of tornadoes in Enderlin, a rural community southwest of Fargo, ND.
Overnight, NOAA received preliminary reports of tornadoes in Barnes, Ransom, Stutsman, and Cass counties.
(MORE: What is a Derecho?)
Christopher Muller, Director of Emergency Management in Beltrami County, Minnesota, reported, 'many roofs off buildings everywhere around Bemidji, vehicles flipped, windows blown in at the regional medical center' and possibly thousands of trees down in the area roughly 130 miles northwest of Fargo.
Wind gusts as high as 106 miles per hour were reported in Bemidji.
Digital Meteorologist Jonathan Belles notes that derechos are expected in the area this time of year.
'We're deep into derecho season now, which runs from May through July or August,' he says. 'These storm systems move the heat of the summer and get a little extra push from the jet stream near the Canadian border. While Friday night's top wind gust of 106 mph was on the high side of what we typically see, it isn't unheard of. They're most common from the Upper Midwest to the Ohio Valley, but can occur just about anywhere east of the Rockies.'
As a result of those high winds and tornadoes, more than 23,000 customers are currently without power in North Dakota.
The National Weather Service will be sending out damage assessment crews to survey the areas hit by high winds and tornadoes this weekend.
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