"Look at that. Fantastic!" said Duncan MacKenzie, flipping on the light in his entryway just after power was returned to his St. Louis Park home Tuesday. After almost four days, he and his wife, Rita, were off the list of powerless Twin Cities homeowners.

Xcel Energy said Tuesday night that fewer than 6,000 Minnesota customers remained without power following the series of weekend storms.

That's down from more than 600,000 homes, businesses and other buildings in the Twin Cities and elsewhere that initially lost power.

The MacKenzies have to clean out their refrigerator, but otherwise the retired couple got along just fine.

"We're former campers, so it's not all that bad," Rita MacKenzie said. "We just think maybe that our camping experience helped us not panic."

More thunderstorms are in the forecast for Wednesday.

"We're not letting up!" the utility said in a notice to its customers.

"We have crews from 22 other companies and 14 states helping us around the clock to restore service to the remaining 5 percent of you without power."

Meanwhile, the clearing of downed trees pressed on in neighborhoods in Minneapolis, St. Paul and several suburbs.

Crews have removed at least 800 trees in Minneapolis, while that total has topped 500 in St. Paul.

paul.walsh@startribune.com • 612-673-4482

lydia.coutre@startribune.com • 612-673-4654