Power failure briefly leaves many thousands lacking electricity in Bloomington area

Many thousands of Xcel Energy customers lost their electricity late Sunday morning primarily in and around Bloomington, a company spokeswoman said.

Power failures popped up in earnest about 9:40 a.m., and a lightning-related problem with a substation in Bloomington drew the attention of work crews, said Xcel spokeswoman Chris Ouellette.

The number of customers without power peaked at roughly 15,000, Ouellette said.

As of 10:32 a.m., there were 1,700 customers still without electricity, but they should hear their refrigerators humming again before the morning ends, the spokeswoman said.