At least three people dead from a tornado in North Dakota

At least three North Dakota residents were killed Friday night by a tornado that swept through the state overnight.

Storm chasers found two people killed as a result of the storm in rural Enderlin on Friday night, some 60 miles southwest of Fargo, N.D. That same night, The Enderlin Sheldon Fire Department found a third person dead from the storm, according to a Facebook post from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office.

“As you look around, there’s a lot of damage. A lot of residences were affected by the storm,” Cass County sheriff Jesse Jahner, said at a press conference Saturday morning. He confirmed two men and one woman died on Friday night and that authorities checked on residents and the impacted area Saturday morning. Jahner said, “we did not come across any other major injuries.” 

Jahner noted that because the tornado hit at night, residents might not have had enough time to prepare, contributing to the deaths.

Enderlin Sheldon Fire Department chief Jon Anderson said the department identified around ten homes damaged in the storm’s path and that some livestock were lost from the storm as well. “There were a number of farmers out searching for cows early this morning,” he said.

Anderson and Jahner agreed that the storm was the worst they’ve responded to in their careers.

Another round of severe storms may impact the area Saturday night and Sunday. “Hail and wind are the primary threat, but a tornado cannot be ruled out,” the National Weather Service Grand Forks posted on X Saturday morning.

Severe storms with winds of more than 100 mph left major damage across a wide swath of northern Minnesota overnight as well, reported MPR News. In Minnesota, Bemidji was among the communities hit hard by the storms, with officials advising against unnecessary travel in the city and surrounding area on Saturday morning due to downed trees and power lines.

As of late Saturday afternoon, over 19,000 people in North Dakota and about 28,000 people in Minnesota were still without power according to PowerOutage.us.