MADISON, Wis. – First responders searched damaged homes and buildings on Tuesday for possible victims of a powerful tornado that carved a path of destruction through several northeastern Wisconsin communities.
The twister touched down in the Fox Cities region, which includes Appleton, Menasha and Neenah, at around 1 p.m. Monday and remained on the ground for more than 20 minutes as it cut a roughly 12-mile path of destruction through an area, the National Weather Service reported. It was nearly a mile (1.6 kilometers) across at its widest, and it destroyed homes and businesses, flipped cars and knocked down rows of power lines in the region, which is roughly 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Milwaukee.
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The timing — it blew in when most people were awake and after warnings had been issued — could be why there have been no reported deaths, authorities said.
“I think what helped us was it was during the week,” Menasha Police Chief Matt Albrecht said at a news conference Tuesday. “Everybody was at work. It was the middle of the day. Most people were not at home and at their place of employment."
Authorities said a number of people were injured and treated at hospitals, but they didn't know exactly how many or how seriously.
“The depth of the tornado and its impact is incredible, devastating. We’re really still at the assessment stage,” Winnebago County Executive Gordon Hintz told reporters.
Gov. Tony Evers declared a state of emergency for the affected areas.
As chain saws roared in the background, Appleton Mayor Jake Woodford said a number of neighborhoods were “truly devastated.” Like elsewhere in the region, electricity lines were tangled around broken trees, making power restoration a slow, risky process.
More than 14,000 customers in Winnebago and Outagamie counties were still without power Tuesday afternoon, about 1,000 fewer than earlier in the day, according to PowerOutage.us. It could be several days before power is restored.
Shelters were opened for displaced residents. A boil water advisory was issued for part of a water system in Fox Crossing that lost pressure.
It was a relatively powerful twister
The twister was spun off by a large storm system that moved through the Great Lakes, fueled by a buildup of heat and humidity, the weather service said.
Weather service officials were assessing the damage Tuesday, said Roy Eckberg, an agency meteorologist.
“To get that kind of tornado is pretty rare in northeast Wisconsin, but they do happen from time to time,” he said, adding that it was unusual that the twister moved southward instead of to the east or northeast.
Preliminary data indicates it was an EF3 tornado, the weather service said, stronger than the EF2 estimate they made Monday.
Residents describe terrifying moments
Heather Schroeder said she heard cracking and popping all around her as the twister tore apart a laundromat, bakery and tavern along a street corner in Menasha.
Rescue workers pulled someone out of one of the buildings and it wasn't clear if they had survived, said Schroeder, who works nearby. Cars were turned upside-down, and there was a gas leak at the laundromat, she said.
“There’s nothing left,” Schroeder said.
Aerial video Tuesday showed homes in Menasha without roofs or that had been completely hollowed out.
Greg Van Driest was working in downtown Appleton when the sky got as dark as night.
“The word we all were using was ‘ominous,’” he said. “It’s like, ‘Whoa, look at that.’ ... You looked outside and you thought it was three in the morning, it was that dark.”
Hintz, the Winnebago County executive, said he received multiple reports of buildings destroyed and vehicles overturned. All storm warnings that could be made ahead of time to get people to safety were activated, he said.
“Obviously when you look at the damage, Mother Nature doesn’t really care,” he said.
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Mayes-Osterman reported from Chicago and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio. Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut; Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Laura Turbay in Little Rock, Arkansas; Sophie Bates in Jackson, Mississippi; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City; and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.