Tornado Causes Damage As Storms Rip Western Wisconsin

At least one confirmed tornado touched down as severe storms ripped through western Wisconsin on Tuesday night, damaging homes and other structures near the Chippewa-Dunn county line.

According to the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office, preliminary reports indicate a semi driver was injured in a crash on Highway 29 that resulted from the tornado. A mobile home overturned and an occupant was taken to a hospital with unknown injuries. Damage assessments are continuing.

Emergency managers have asked potential volunteers to stay away from the Town of Wheaton, citing downed power lines and debris.

A garage owned by Carolyn and Larry Small was destroyed Tuesday night when they say the tornado passed through their yard in the Town of Wheaton. Carolyn said the wind began to pick up and the two of them headed for the basement.

“Well, we didn’t actually get down there and he looked out the window and he said, ‘Holy, you know what.’ He said, ‘The garage is gone.’ And it was just a whoosh,” said Carolyn. “People describe a train. I don’t remember hearing that but it was more of a whoosh and it was instantaneous.”

On Wednesday morning, she and members of her extended family began cleaning debris from their yard when they found a piece of their garage roof embedded 4 feet deep in their yard.

Small said she also found pieces of a toy Lionel train set her father owned strewn throughout her yard, which she assumes came from the garage attic.

“But I found pieces of the train and the train engine was literally embedded in the ground,” said Carolyn. “I had to yank it out of the dirt to get it out. I mean, the power… it’s beyond comprehension until you’re in the middle of it.”

The home of Jill and Lance Olsen near the intersection of 30th Street and Highway 29 in the Town of Wheaton was severely damaged by the tornado. The tornado peeled off the home’s roof and caused sides of the home to collapse.

Jill, who was outside Wednesday cleaning up debris, said she was in the basement when she heard loud bangs followed by rain coming into the house.

“And then I heard another bang and that’s when I knew that it was close and I ran back downstairs,” Olsen said. “And as I hit the bottom of the stairs the bottom door came flying open and I ran around underneath the staircase and I held on.”

She said she had no idea the home was destroyed until she had to climb out of the wreckage. Despite the damage to her family’s home, she said the storm will not define her.

According to the National Weather Service, the tornado struck near Elk Mound shortly before 8 p.m.

At least three semi-trailers overturned along Wisconsin Highway 29 northeast of Elk Mound.

Elk Mound schools opened their high school for anyone needing temporary shelter overnight.

The National Weather Service office in Chanhassen, Minnesota, said that crews are surveying the damage to determine the strength of the tornado that hit the Town of Wheaton and whether there were others. The office said it expects to release that information sometime Wednesday night.