'It Is Getting Cold, Fast': Thousands In Twin Cities Lost Power In Dangerous Cold

UPDATE: Xcel says most Minnesotans had power restored by Wednesday morning.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Thousands of Minnesotans endured the coldest night in a generation without power.

Xcel Energy says equipment failures on power poles is leading to outages all over the metro Tuesday evening, which started at about 5:40 p.m.

At the peak of the outage, about 8,000 residents were affected in the Twin Cities metro area. As of 11 p.m., less than 600 customers people were still without power.

The Anzalone family said their Bloomington neighborhood went dark around dinner time. Like many in the metro, they were bundled up and reading by candelight, hoping they didn't have to leave their house. They say the latest update for power returning is 3 a.m. Wednesday.

"If the power doesn't come back on, we're talking to family and some friends in the area, see where we may spend the night, because it is getting cold, fast," said Erin Anzalone.

Xcel officials say they sent extra crews because of the dangerous cold.