Sue Sitter/PCT Rugby resident Joan Marie Scheet shows neighbors in Rugby the spot where a tree branch in her yard weighs down a power line running across Third Street Northwest.

A severe thunderstorm left Pierce County residents without electricity from late in the evening July 22 to the early morning hours of July 23.

Winds gusting as high as 68 miles per hour reported by local weather monitoring services downed trees and branches throughout the area.

Spotters in neighboring McHenry and Rolette Counties reported heavy rain and hail. Farmers eight miles north of Selz reported dime size hail and damage to crops, according to reports compiled by the National Weather Service Office in Bismarck.

Reports said the storm left 1.22 inches of rain in Wolford.

In Rugby, area residents cleared damage caused by falling tree branches and other objects blown down by strong winds.

Local resident Joan Marie Scheet, who lives on the corner of First Street Southwest and Third Avenue Northwest, saw a branch ripped away from a tree in her front yard, falling on a power line stretching across the street.

“I think we had a twister,” she said, adding she had called Otter Tail Power Company to alert them of the downed line.

No tornadoes were reported in the storm, which moved southeast along the Canadian border from Renville and Ward County to Pierce and Towner Counties and beyond.

However, spotters noted a funnel cloud in Renville County south of Minot Air Force Base.