St. Louis Park Hailstorm Fells Trees, Cuts Power to Thousands

A windy hailstorm Tuesday evening brought hail, rain and rainbows to St. Louis Park, downing trees and power lines and leaving thousands without power. (Clusters of homes remained in the dark Wednesday morning.) 

Near Aquila Park, on the 3300 block of Xylon Avenue, a large tree gave way, destroying a deck and a garage. (No vehicles were parked inside the garage, and no one was injured.)

“I was sitting in the bay window in the front of the house watching the trees across the street bowing,” the homeowner, Christopher Rubio, told the Star Tribune. “[I] heard a loud explosion. My mom was like a tree fell in the backyard. So I took a look out the back and see my deck 8 feet off the ground.”

On Twitter, residents shared pictures of the ominous storm clouds, a pre-storm rainbow and other fallen trees.