Emergency crews searched homes and buildings Tuesday looking for possible victims powerful tornado Destroying several communities in northeastern Wisconsin.
Monday’s tornado plunged the Fox Cities area, which includes more than 100,000 people in the communities of Appleton, Menasha and Neenah, into chaos, flattening homes, overturning cars and downing power lines and trees.
“The depth of the tornado and its impact was incredible and devastating. We’re really still in the assessment phase,” Winnebago County Executive Gordon Hintz said at a news conference Tuesday.
Authorities said the timing of the storm, which hit when most people were awake and after warnings were issued, may have contributed to the lack of deaths reported, although some people were injured and police continued to go door-to-door looking for possible victims.
“Everybody was working. It was noon,” Menasha Police Chief Matt Albrecht said. “Most people are not at home or at work.”
The tornado touched down around 1 p.m. and stayed on the ground for more than 20 minutes, leaving an approximately 12-mile path of destruction. National Weather Service the report said. The area is about 100 miles northwest of Milwaukee.
it is classified as EF3 The weather service said it was the strongest tornado to hit Outagamie and Winnebago counties since EF4 made landfall in April 1984.
Gov. Tony Evers declared a state of emergency for the affected areas. Shelters were opened for displaced residents.
As chain saws roared in the background, Appleton Mayor Jack Woodford said some neighborhoods were “literally devastated.” As elsewhere in the region, power lines were tangled around downed trees, making the process of restoring power slow and risky.
More than 14,000 customers were still without power in Winnebago and Outagamie counties Tuesday afternoon, about 1,000 fewer than earlier in the day, according to PowerOutage.us. It may take several days for power to be restored.
A tornado is caused by large storm system across the Great Lakes and by Accumulation of heat and humidity” the meteorological department said.
“What we’re seeing this summer is high temperatures leading to severe weather,” AccuWeather senior meteorologist Chad Merrill said. “We’ve had EF3 tornadoes in Wisconsin. People need to take these warnings seriously. It can happen almost anywhere.”
Authorities said Tuesday they did not know exactly how many people were injured. But ThedaCare Regional Medical Center in Appleton and Neenah said it had treated 40 people, mostly for minor injuries related to the storm.
Heather Schroeder said she heard crackling and popping sounds around her as the tornado tore through a laundromat, bakery and bistro on a Menasha street corner. Rescuers pull someone out of a building.
“There’s nothing left,” she said.
Manderfield’s Home Bakery is a decades-old landmark, and the brick frame around the door still stands, but little has changed.
“This can be replaced,” owner Jerry Mandelfield told WISN-TV. “Someone in our building could have died there.”
Volunteers stepped forward to try to ease the shock. Luigi’s Pizza in Menasha set up a food trailer to hand out hygiene kits and free slices after donors pitched in enough money to make at least 125 pizzas.
“Sometimes a hot pizza, a taco and a reminder of community care means more than words,” said Duncan’s Window & Door, which donated 50 pizzas.
Associated Press writers Christopher Keller and Scott Bauer contributed to this report.
This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
