One minute, Twin Cities commuters were making their way home under surly skies Friday evening. The next, they were up to their door handles in cold water as torrential rains from a ferocious thunderstorm flooded roads across the metro area.

The storm, which also featured fire-sparking lightning and golf-ball-sized hail, turned freeways and side roads into rivers and downed power lines and trees.

Severe storms also ripped through parts of southern Minnesota, with several reports of tornadoes outside small towns in the Mankato area. But despite the widespread havoc spawned by the storms, no deaths or injuries were reported in the metro area or outstate.

In areas as far spread as south Minneapolis, Maple Grove and South St. Paul, streets were swamped by 2 or more feet of water.

Among the roads briefly rendered impassable was Interstate 35W in Minneapolis, which was blocked in both directions at 42nd Street, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Another was northbound Hwy. 169 at the Medicine Lake Road exit on the New Hope-Plymouth border, and yet another was southbound Hwy. 280 at Broadway Avenue. Several ramps off eastbound Interstate 94 into downtown Minneapolis also were briefly closed.

Water was "hood-high" on cars stalled on 35W and 169, said MnDOT dispatcher Todd Fairbanks. "I think people just didn't realize that the road was flooded," he said, referring to the swift accumulation of water, which overwhelmed storm sewers.

Rainfall exceeded 2 inches in some areas, the National Weather Service said.

The State Patrol was flooded with reports of standing water on metro-area highways, as well as "a lot of cars stalled out and a fair amount of crashes," said spokesman Lt. Eric Roeske.

In Minneapolis, flash flooding was especially dramatic at the corner of 22nd Street and Lyndale Avenue S. Both of those streets were underwater, setting off a scramble to protect the Wedge Co-op at 2105 Lyndale. Nate Oerter, a manager, estimated the water outside at 2 feet high, but he said "just a little" entered the store.

During the storm and its immediate aftermath, AAA Minneapolis was "extremely busy" with calls from members stalled in flooded areas, a spokesman said. Figures were not available on the number of calls for service, but many came from the area around Hwy. 169 and Medicine Lake Road, and from Hwy. 100 and Interstate 394, he said.

Flooding wasn't the only problem unleashed by the storm. In Shoreview, a home was set on fire by a lightning strike.

And in Washington County, there were reports of "many, many power lines down," particularly in Cottage Grove and Newport, a dispatcher said.

At 9:25 p.m., Xcel Energy reported about 26,000 metro area customers were without power, with about 20,000 power failures in the west metro area, utility spokesman Tom Hoen said. Golden Valley was especially hard hit, but outages were widespread, he added, with no area in the west metro being "left off the hook."

In the east metro, about 6,000 Xcel customers were without power, with most of those affected in Woodbury and on St. Paul's East Side, he said.

To the south, twisters

In southwestern Minnesota's Redwood County, authorities said, a tornado touched down about 3 1/2 miles west of Lamberton. A funnel cloud hit the ground twice, knocking down trees and tossing a grain bin across a road, a dispatcher said. But there were no reports of injuries or dwelling damage, she said.

In south-central Minnesota's Blue Earth County, strong winds downed trees and power lines and tore roofs from several homes, said Al Kluever, the county's deputy emergency manager.

In Waseca County, just to the east, spotters reported a funnel cloud at 7:45 p.m., 6 miles southwest of Otisco, about 16 miles from Waseca.

Funnel clouds were also spotted near St. Clair, Waldorf and Lewisville.

And a dispatcher in Brown County reported golfball-sized hail and street flooding in New Ulm.

slemagie@startribune.com • 952-882-9016 alonetree@startribune.com • 612-673-4109 The Associated Press contributed to this report.