Powerful winds whip up waves, flood Lake Superior shoreline

DULUTH, Minn. — Powerful winds have whipped up big waves along the shores of Lake Superior, flooding a business district and causing power outages.

The National Weather Service says a Canadian freighter measured a wind gust of 86 mph near Castle Danger north of Duluth Wednesday afternoon. Hurricane-force wind begins at 74 mph. The gale-force winds are creating waves as high as 14 to 18 feet. The Canal Park business district near the lake was flooded.

The high wind knocked out service for about 4,700 Minnesota Power customers in the Duluth area Wednesday morning.

The weather service issued a lakeshore flooding warning until 4 p.m. Wednesday for Duluth and Superior and Ashland in Wisconsin.

Elsewhere in northern Minnesota, rain was changing to snow with accumulations of at least 6 inches by early Thursday.