Updated: Winter Storm Causes Power Outages In Woodbury

Xcel Energy reports widespread power outages in the Twin Cities today due to the winter storm, including , which was closed because of the outage.

Power is expected to be restored by 11 p.m. Wednesday, the energy provider said on its website. In Woodbury, however, most power seems to be back on, according to a map of outages in Woodbury.

On the Woodbury Patch Facebook page, residents were keeping each other up to date on the outages.

Students who were bused to Woodbury Middle School Wednesday morning were to be transported home at 9:30 a.m., according to a notice on the District 833 website. Students who walk to school were allowed to return home, and the district asked parents who drive their children to school to come and pick them up.

A Woodbury Middle School parent told Patch that the power has since been restored, though things were a bit hectic while she was picking up her son from school. Find a statement from the school's principal below.

Lt. Eric Roeske with the Minnesota State Patrol on his Twitter feed reported 94 crashes in the metro area from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. Wednesday morning. There were eight reported injuries, none serious.

Roads in Woodbury seemed to be in decent shape Wednesday morning. Crews were in preparation of the storm. The Minnesota Department of Transportation's Twitter feed did not report any crashes in Woodbury as of 10:06 a.m. There were dozens of crashes reported elsewhere in the Twin Cities.

As for the Wednesday morning power outage, Woodbury Middle School Principal Kari Lopez sent out a message to parents Wednesday morning:

"We apologize for any confusion that may have occurred this morning. In these situations we can never truly predict the best outcome. We make decisions based on what we believe is best for students. This morning was no different," she wrote. "Because bus routes had already begun, we needed to proceed with the runs and make the decision to return students when the Transportation Department would be available to run the return routes. We did send a message through both INFO TO GO list serv and a School Connects phone message alerting you to the situation when we were certain that school would be closed as a result of the power outage. Again, thank you for your patience and understanding during this morning’s situation at our school."

Kristine Schaefer, principal at , which is next door to Woodbury Middle School, released the following statement Wednesday afternoon:

"We apologize for any confusion that may have occurred this morning. In these situations we can never truly predict the best outcome. We make decisions based on what we believe is best for students," she wrote. "This morning was no different. There was not as much confusion for Woodbury Elementary, but knowing there are siblings at Woodbury Middle School, many likely ran into the confusion with the power being out prior to the start of school (and after the start of school for the middle school). Again, thank you for your patience and understanding during this morning’s situation at our school."

The state Department of Public Safety has an update about the storm's impacts on traffic.