Thousands of customers in many north metro suburbs lost electricity late Thursday morning and briefly into the afternoon, a utility official said.
The outage was first reported to Xcel Energy about 11:10 a.m. and initially knocked out electricity to roughly 12,500 customers, said utility spokesman Tom Hoen.
Communities affected included Fridley, Spring Lake Park, New Brighton, Columbia Heights, Blaine and Coon Rapids, Hoen said.
By shortly after 12:30 p.m., power was fully restored, he said.
Among the more notable customers affected were the Medtronic headquarters and a Target distribution center, both in Fridley.
Paul Walsh
