Storms tore through the upper midwest, causing damaging tornadoes Friday. Image courtesy of UPI
Tornadoes swept through several midwestern cities Friday leaving destruction and devastation in their wakes as a massive storm system tore through the area.
Rochester, Minn., Lena, Ill., and Ringle, Wis., were hit by tornados on Friday.
Rochester saw winds at about 130 mph. The NWS has teams surveying the damage in Minnesota and Wisconsin Saturday, CBS News reported.
No injuries have been reported, the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office said. But damage to homes and vehicles was extensive in Rochester.
No injuries were reported in Lena, Ill., either, though there is extensive damage. The village in northwestern Illinois is completely blocked, the Stephenson County Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook.
“There is no way to get into town due to trees and wires down,” the post said. “Emergency Services are assisting people per Sheriff [Steve] Stovall.”
“We are extremely fortunate that this storm did not result in loss of life or serious injury,” Stovall said in a statement. “Our focus remains on ensuring the safety of our residents, securing the affected areas, and supporting the Village of Lena as recovery efforts move forward.”
About 75 homes suffered damage in Ringle, Wis., west of Green Bay. Ringle Fire Chief Chris Kielman said some people were trapped in their basements, but there were no injuries or deaths.
A tornado flipped a semi-tractor near Elgin, Minn., and caused damage on two farmsteads, The Weather Channel reported.
More storms are expected in the region Saturday, but they aren’t likely to be as severe.
Wisconsin has seen a week of destruction as severe weather has pummeled the state. On Monday, a tornado touched down in the central part of the state, followed by five touchdowns on Tuesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. There was another round of storms on Wednesday that flooded homes, businesses and roads in Milwaukee.
“Having four out of five severe weather days with tornado activity is very rare for southern Wisconsin, especially in April,” Marcia Cronce, a meteorologist with the Milwaukee/Sullivan National Weather Service office, told the Journal Sentinel. “We had a very broad weather pattern over the center of the country, and Wisconsin was right in the battleground.”
“I have not seen devastation like this in my 35 years working in Marathon County,” Marathon County, Wis., Sheriff Chad Billeb said.
“Most of the damage [in central Wisconsin] is associated with the potential tornadoes that occurred,” Scott Berschback, a meteorologist with the Green Bay weather service office, told the Journal Sentinel.
“One of these events is not rare — we have severe weather quite often in April — but the back-to-back nature of them is a pretty unprecedented event,” Berschback said.
Dave Vetsch told CBS he was next door to his father’s place with two of his sons at his business when his kids said they had a tornado alert on their phones.
“We stepped out on the loading dock and holy smokes, there was one coming right at us,” Vetsch said.
Andrew Hawkins’ father-in-law lost his home to Friday’s tornado in Rochester.
“You always, you know, see it on the news and hear about it, to see it is another thing,” Hawkins said.
“The electricity went out, and I took the dog and went down in the basement in the shower, and I heard a big old crash, and I thought, ‘Oh, well, there goes the roof!’ but it wasn’t,” said Marcia, a Lena resident, to CBS. The noise was a large tree falling in her yard.
