NDSU experienced downed trees and power outages
The sun came back after the storm but the power did not for many.
For around 19,000 residents of the Fargo, Labor Day was celebrated with candles and flashlights as straight-line winds of up to 70-80 winds damaged power lines, as reported by the Inforum. Many of those residents were around North Dakota State University.
Residents of most on-campus living facilities only experienced minor flickering because of NDSU’s backup generators but those of campus lost power all together. Outages varied based on location but most had power before morning.
Some did not fare so well. The Theta Chi house was without power until 4:30 in the afternoon because of a suspected power line problem.
Anthony Soukup, the Treasurer for the fraternity, said his house was not the only one on the block to experience a prolonged blackout. Soukup said he knows for sure that his neighbors had to use a generator at some point during the day.
With over 20+ residents the brother’s main worries were over how to keep the food they had fresh and minimize potentially expensive losses, according to Soukup.
The power outage left many frustrated without the power to hand in assignments or use their phones. “A lot of people were worried their phones were going to die and they wouldn’t have their alarms to go off,” Soukup added.
The power outages were spotty. Soukup said he is pretty sure his block was one of the only in the area to lose power for that long.
Clean up, and tree removal was under way all day in Fargo in order to clear the damage and bring about power to those still without.
The Inform even reported accidents in Fargo due to the storm. KVRR reported that the Fargo Fire Department received three times as many calls than the usual.
Battalion Chief Bruce Anderson said that there were too many calls for them to get to, so they had to start prioritizing and stepping up their pace. KVRR reported that most of the calls were for downed trees and power lines. No fires were reported.
The Inforum reported crews from as cities as far as Sioux Falls came to help restore power. “(We) get all hands on deck in something like this. They packed their bags and hopped into their trucks,” Mark Nesbit, Xcel Energy’s principal manager in North Dakota, told the Forum. The Inforum only reported one injury, a truck driver on Interstate 94 whose truck was blown over by the wind.