Heavy rain tangles morning commute

Strong thunderstorms swept across the much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin on Tuesday morning.

The National Weather Service warned that the storms included high winds, frequent cloud-to-ground lightning strikes and torrential rains, which could lead to localized flooding. Authorities warned that several inches of fast-moving water can sweep away a car.

A number of accidents in the Twin Cities metro area were reported during Tuesday morning's commute, which helped bring traffic to a crawl on many area highways. Flooding also reduced eastbound Interstate 394 to one lane near Penn Avenue in Minneapolis shortly before 7:30 a.m.

The storms dumped about two inches of rain in Burnsville, Minn., almost one inch in St. Cloud and more than an inch of rain in Minneapolis, according to daily precipitation totals.

Create a More Connected Minnesota

MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.

The fact that the storm hit right as rush hour began also helped tangle traffic, said MnDOT spokesperson Kevin Gutknecht.

"We had pretty heavy rain there for a while," Gutknecht said. "There was standing water and flashing flooding on a number of the state system, so I can just imagine that cities and counties have a similar situation."

The National Weather Service predicts that storms could return on Tuesday afternoon or evening as a cold front moves through the area. They have the potential to include large hail and damaging winds in south-central and east-central Minnesota and parts of west-central Wisconsin.

Tuesday morning rainfall totals in Minnesota

Source: CoCoRaHS Minnesota