Aug. 1--Thursday's storms left residents without power and tree branches in roads and on vehicles in Aberdeen.

Reports of tree damage, downed power lines and damaged homes and vehicles were the worst of Aberdeen's woes, said Scott Meints, Brown County Emergency Management director. Other Brown County towns also had similar damage.

Downed power lines meant people were left without power, said Tom Glanzer, spokesman for NorthWestern Energy, and Mike Kelly, operations manager for Northern Electric Co-operative.

About 5,200 NorthWestern Energy customers lost power, Glanzer said. That's compared to 600 rural Brown County customers who lost power, Kelly said.

As of Thursday evening, 1,300 NorthWestern Energy customers were still without power; 125 Northern Electric Co-operative customers were without power.

In Aberdeen, about 2,200 customers lost power about 4:30 a.m., Glanzer said. All power in town was restored by 8:30 a.m., he said.

Barry Hillestad, Day County sheriff and acting emergency management director, said Waubay, Grenville and Roslyn -- all Otter Tail Power Company customers -- were also without power. Crews estimated it would be 24 to 48 hours before power was restored in that area.

About 1,100 customers near Bristol, Claremont, Langford, Pierpont, Lily, Butler, Bradley and Florence lost power, Glanzer said.

Damage to electric facilities caused the power outages, Glanzer and Kelly said.

Roughly 50 of NorthWestern Energy's structures, such as power poles and transformers, near Webster were damaged were in the storm, Glanzer said. About 30 of those structures were on NorthWestern Energy's main transmission line into Webster.

Crews were busy working Thursday to bring a generator into Webster, which lost power about 5:30 a.m., he said. He hoped the city would have power in some capacity by the day's end, he said.

Northern Electric Co-operative lost 10 poles as a result of the wind and fallen trees, Kelly said.

Homes, vehicles: Fallen trees damaged more than just electrical structures, Meints said.

Homes and vehicles were damaged by falling trees in area towns including Columbia, Stratford and Warner, he said.

Branches in the road were not an uncommon sight in Aberdeen, according to a press release from Aaron Kiesz, city forester.

To help with the cleanup of the branches, the Brown County Landfill will accept branches and trees free of charge; no trees or branches can be left at dumpster locations. Smaller branches from private yards can be hauled to the boulevard and will be picked up by the city.

The boulevard trees are the property of the city and will be cleaned up and hauled away as soon as possible.

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Story Source: American News (Aberdeen, S.D.)