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Damage in the Town of Wheatland | Photo: Vicky Hollowell Kenosha Tornado: 911 Calls ReleasedBy the WTMJ Weather Plus Storm and News Teams911 Calls: Video: The Cleanup from Newsradio 620 WTMJ's Vicky Hollowell: 620WTMJ Day-of Coverage: Day-of Raw Audio: Click Here to see photos of the storm | Share Your Photos/Video
People in Kenosha County could have another round of Mother Nature to deal with. Victims of the tornadoes are getting mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted by the recovery effort, and now they may have to deal with snow on top of everything else. Jeorjie Pittelkow is just one of many trying to get tarps over the damage before more bad weather arrives. "Everybody's rushing around house to house, because of weather coming, and the rain we had," said Pittelkow. Jeff Ruth spent part of Wednesday trying to cover holes in his roof before worse weather arrives. "We did plywood up most of the big holes so it shouldn't be a big problem, but that could become a worry if we start getting big heavy snows again," stated Ruth. People said they couldn't even pick up some pieces of debris, because it had frozen to the ground. Winter's return will just be one more piece of frustration to people just trying to get things back to normal. In the meantime, Kenosha County Sheriff's officials say they're having a hard time with gawkers stopping to look at the damage. They say it only makes things harder for people to get to and from their homes to recover what they can. Congressman Tours Damage by Vicky Hollowell Congressman Paul Ryan represents the area and took a tour of the damage in Kenosha on Tuesday. "If this isn't a disaster area I don't know what is," Ryan said on one of the tornado sites." "The question is the magnitude of the damage, and it has to reach certain thresholds. We don't have the damage estimate yet, so it's too early to calculate the size of the damage from a monetary standpoint."
While officials praise the tornado warning system in Kenosha County, Brighton School district leaders say one of them didn't go off on Monday. "School was out, but we did have groups here for drama and basketball practice, and unfortunately the alarm closest to us didn't go off," said Brighton Superintendent Laurie Wright. "Our primary concern is for the safety of the children, and without proper notification, we cannot respond correctly." A contractor is going to investigate the siren and two others in the county on Friday.
Help is coming to tornado victims in many forms. Wheatland Fire Chief Alan Kaddatz, who also owns a Port-O-John rental company, has placed portable toilets in the area. "We put the portable restrooms out here for people who are cleaning up and helping with debris clean up, the insurance people and everybody that's helping," said Kaddatz. He says he wanted to do what he could to help.
The National Weather Service is saying at least two tornadoes and as many as four touched down in Kenosha County on Monday. The first confirmed twister landed around Highway 50 and Highway O in the western part of the county. It was measured as an EF-3, which can produce winds from 138 to 167 miles an hour, and traveled about 10 and a half miles. The second hit the City of Kenosha as an EF-1, which can have wind speeds from 86 to 109 miles per hour. FEMA, along with Kenosha County and Wisconsin Emergency Management, say 26 homes and other buildings were destroyed, and 78 others were damaged. Affected homeowners are asked to call 262-605-7926 to report damage and whether or not they have insurance.
For many people who owned homes and businesses in the area, the daylight of Tuesday brought the first chance to see the full extent of the damage. Vincent Tassoti says that the tornado damaged his garage and a pigeon loft that used to house 200 birds. "Most of them aren't around anymore so they must have joined the big loft in the sky," stated Tassoti. "We're still hoping to find some." A short distance away, the Tacos el Rey restaurant also sustained some heavy damage, but Sonja Harris says they'll get through it. "It's a real bad mess," said Harris. "We have a lot of destruction here, but we'll clean it up." Other people are reporting fences ripped out, random billboards in their backyards, and other debris from blocks away.
A college student survived the tornado in the town of Brighton by getting into the one room in the whole house that was left standing. Meagan Moore was woken up by a phone call from her mother warning her about the tornado. Meagan got into a small concrete room in the basement, and says she was lucky she chose the room she did. "That room doesn't move, but the ceilings would so I could hear the ceilings shake, and I could hear things coming off and I thought 'okay, maybe the roof is off, the outerwalls,' " stated Moore. "I didn't expect to look out my door and see the whole house in front of me." Meagan's thankful for surviving her close call with death. "I was numb," said Meagan's mother. "I did more of my crying last night when we were safe at my inlaws, and quite a little bit when I got here and walked around and really saw the destruction." Governor Declares State of Emergency by Jon Byman Governor Doyle declared a state of emergency in Kenosha County Tuesday afternoon. The declaration came after the governor toured the area earlier in the day. In a statement the governor said, “This was a devastating string of storms and tornadoes that hit The disaster declaration allows state agencies to provide additional assistance for victims of the storm. Tuesday Afternoon Update by Jon Byman The National Weather Service says the preliminary information they have about the tornado that hit Kenosha County Monday indicates the twister was an F-3 with winds between 140 and 150 miles an hour. Forecasters are out today surveying the damage trying to figure out exactly what happened. According to the early reports from the survey teams, the tornado that hit the Wheatland area touched down just northeast of U.S. Highway 12 and County Highway U. It appears the tornado was on the ground for nearly 11 miles to the northeast, finally dissapating about two-and-a-half miles northwest of Paddock Lake. A second tornado that hit eastern Kenosha County north of the Carthage College campus has been given a preliminary rating of F1. The weather service says that twister had winds between 75 and 100 miles an hour. Authorities say the latest information they have is that 15 people were slightly hurt by the twister. They say the timing of the storm when many people were at work or in school likely prevented more serious injuries or deaths. Sheriff David Beth says 25 homes appear to have been destroyed, 7 have moderate damage and 23 others have minor damage. Those numbers are expected to climb. Authorities are asking that if your home or property has been damaged that you report it. The number to call and do that is 262-605-7926. Kenosha Rocked by Jon Byman "We've been very fortunate," said Kenosha County Executive Allen Kehl. "I would have expected this in July." But it happened in early January, late Monday afternoon. At least one, and possibly up to five tornadoes, started in Illinois and came through Kenosha County. Some of the 40 to 60 homes damaged in the tornado were completely leveled. "The damage for the city of Kenosha occurred basically on the north side of the city," said Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian. "The majority of the damage was property damage." Antaramian says Kenosha Fire and Police went house to house to make sure people are okay. County Executive Kehl has declared a state of emergency in Kenosha County.
Even with the warnings, a tornado was the last thing people were expecting on January 7th. But for people who experienced the storm up close, there was no mistaking what it was. "It was very dark and it seemed like the wind was coming through the home," said one caller who described the damage on Newsradio 620 WTMJ's "Greenhouse" program. "It was like a freight train coming through." Another caller, Scott, saw the funnel cross Highway 50 in Kenosha County, and he described the debris he saw in the storm's wake. "Parts of trees and road signs were obliterated," said Scott. There's nothing left of the road signs." Other people saw even bigger debris, like a snowmobile flying through the air. One man at Bose Elementary School in Kenosha saw the storm pass through after making sure students in the building were safe. "One of the other workers and I were watching the wind come by, and all of a sudden we saw at least a 45-foot pine tree come through," said the man. "We saw a couple fences get ripped out, numerous amounts of trees flying through some houses."
The town of Wheatland was probably one of the hardest hit communities in Kenosha County. On one street in the town, a twister tore through two homes, severely damaging houses on either side, but left the other half of that block untouched. Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth the damage is incredible. "There's literally millions of dollars in this subdivision alone of homes that have been damaged," stated Beth. "This is going to be a major catastrophe for us here in Kenosha." In that neighborhood, at 65th Street and 375th Avenue, 11 homes were destroyed and 5 more were heavily damaged.
Wheatland Elementary School sat squarely in the storm's path, but no major injuries or significant damage happened. Classes had already let out for the day, and Bruce Trongeau, who is a coach at school, says people who were still there for after-school activities did have some warning "A couple of the janitors and the superintendent saw the tornado come over the school," said Trongeau. "The superintendent told everyone, cheerleaders, basketball players to get into the locker room." It didn't take long before the storm was right there. "The hail, the wind, I could see the basketball rims rattling," described Trongeau. No one was seriously injured at the school, but there was plenty of chaos inside. "One of the parents came in," said Trongeau. "She got hit by flying debris in the head. She was pretty upset, but she was all right. "We saw some of the cheerleaders calling back, finding out what happened, and their houses were gone." Trongeau says students who were there when the storm hit were held until their parents could come pick them up.
"In my 26 years in the department, this is the first time that I've ever had to deal with anything like this during January," said Kenosha County Sheriff Lieutenant Paul Falduto. His Sheriff's colleagues, along with fire, police, volunteers and even some Wisconsin Army National Guard soldiers like Private Ryan Lonnegran helped to rescue those in the line of danger. "I live in Waterford, so I was watching what was going on in the news, and I was like, 'I know people live down the street on (Highway) O,' and I wanted to help out," said Pvt. Lonnegran. "I heard a tornado hit in Wheatland, and I wanted to help out, just do what I can." And people did what they could - all night - to help rescue tornado victims and clean up the damage. Falduto says authorities are still trying to figure out when its safe for people to head back to their homes. Until then, he says people should stay away from the scene. "We still have the areas cordoned off," said Lt. Falduto. "We still have patrols in the area to prevent looting and try and determine the full extent of damage. We'll do a complete survey of the area and try to come up with everything we need to determine what houses can be returned to and what houses are not sound anymore. Hopefully at that point, we'll be able to start moving in the other resources needed." Until then, Lt. Falduto suggests that people should call the Kenosha County Emergency Operations number, 262-605-7026, to find out pertinent information about their home and storm damage.
WE Energies says about 200 customers are still without power in Wheatland and just under 60 without power in the City of Kenosha, and they hope to have the remainer back in power by the end of Tuesday. The amount of remaining customers without power is down from nearly 6,000 Monday evening. WE Energies Spokesman Brian Manthey says WE Energies crews have been out throughout the night. Their most pressing concern? Downed power lines that were hidden in the storm damage. Manthey warns people to not approach a downed power line, but give WE Energies a call 1-800-662-4797 to report it.
"It was a strange day, no question about it, for January," said WTMJ Weather Plus Storm Team Meteorologist Craig Koplien about the unusual month for conditions that led to tornadoes. "Beyond that, though, the weather conditions that produced the tornado weren't strange, if it was March or April or May." Still, Koplien explains that all the ingredients that can produce tornadoes came in this storm. "Nothing unusual in terms of atmospheric conditions occurred...just the fact that it was in January." How does it happen in January? Meteorologists like Koplien had an idea it could come from the mild periods in December. "Earlier on this winter, indications were that we had a higher chance of above-normal temperatures this winter, and we've certainly been on track," explained Koplien. "We've twice had in the neighborhood of a foot of snow on the ground. Both times, in the course of about two days, the snow melted away almost completely. "Yesterday, the reason for the unseasonably warm weather specifically was how powerful the storm system was, and the strong southerly wind flow that was able to bring up temperatures more common in the Southern United States for this time of the year." |
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Snow Could Hamper Tornado Cleanup by 
Sirens Failed in Brighton by 
Two to Four Tornadoes Touched Down by 
College Student Gets Through the Tornado by 
Trees, Vehicles Flying by 
Power Mainly Restored by 
