A powerful tornado remained on the ground for more than 20 minutes as it tore through northeastern Wisconsin Monday, leveling homes, tossing cars and bringing down power lines.
Officials were going door-to-door assessing the damage Tuesday after the twister devastated the Fox Cities region, which includes Appleton, Menasha and Neenah, approximately 100 miles northwest of Milwaukee. There have been no reports of deaths or missing persons.
The National Weather Service reported that the tornado, which struck in the early afternoon after residents received warnings to take cover, traveled approximately 12 miles (19 kilometers). At its widest, the storm stretched nearly a mile (1.6 kilometers) across, tearing roofs from homes and businesses, overturning vehicles, stripping tree tops, and felling utility poles.
"The depth of the tornado and its impact is incredible, devastating. We’re really still at the assessment stage," Winnebago County Executive Gordon Hintz said at a Tuesday news conference.
He noted that while some injuries occurred, the midday timing was fortunate as many residents were at work rather than at home.
Over 15,000 customers in Winnebago and Outagamie counties remained without electricity on Tuesday, according to PowerOutage.us, with restoration potentially taking several days. Shelters have been established for displaced residents, and a boil water advisory was issued for a section of Fox Crossing's water system 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, meaning it packed winds of 136-165 mph (219-266 kph), the weather service said.
Residents describe terrifying moments as tornado barreled through
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.”
Gordon Hintz, Winnebago County’s top elected official, 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.
