Severe storms cause damage in central, northeast Wisconsin

NORTHEAST, CENTRAL WISCONSIN (WITI) --  A line of severe thunderstorms raced across portions of central and northeast Wisconsin during the overnight hours.  Numerous trees and power lines are down leaving thousands of people without power. Structural damage was also reported.

The Red Cross is opening two shelters, Parkview Elementary in New London and Wrightstown High School in Wrightstown. Winds over 80 mph were reported in Outagamie Co.  The most significant damage was reported in the Fox Valley toward New London.  In Marinette County, a worker was killed while clearing storm debris. Here are the details:

Barron County – Quarter to golf ball size hail in the Rice Lake area caused minor damage. Downed tree limbs are reported across the county.

Brown County – The Brown County Emergency Operations Center was activated early this morning following reports of wind damage from Wrightstown to Denmark along Highway 96. Numerous roads are closed due to debris. The county Rescue Eagle III helicopter is surveying the damage. Crews report seeing significant crop damage with damaged silos, barns, garages and one home that appears destroyed.

Calumet County – Several steel electric poles are down on Highway 57. Power company crews are on the scene. Several barns and sheds were destroyed. One resident reports a tree came down on the roof.

Ho-Chunk Nation – Damage to Pow-Wow grounds reported.

Kewaunee County – Numerous trees and power lines down. Luxemburg Fire Department responded to a transformer fire in the township of Lincoln. Wisconsin Public Service crews are on the scene. Three barns were damaged along with a roof at Heritage Farms.

Lincoln County – Tree struck by lightning on Highway 17 resulting in debris on roadway.

Outagamie County – Grand Chute declared a State of Emergency. Appleton Medical Center lost power and is operating on generator. All surgeries are canceled for the day. Huckleberry Campground in Fremont and Apple Creek Campground in the Wrightstown area sustained damage with at least two injuries reported. Several roads are closed due to downed power lines including Highway 76 north of Greenville, Highway 55 from Center Valley Road to County Highway S, Highway 47 north of County Highway OO, County Highway OO east of Highway 47. The National Weather Service has dispatched a storm survey team to determine if a tornado touched down near Wrightstown.

Marathon County – Lighting caused a fire in an abandoned structure in Weston. No injuries reported.

Marinette County – Town of Porterfield: Two workers were struck by a vehicle while clearing Bagley Road near Highway 64. The accident has resulted in the death of one of those workers. It is unknown at this time the extent of injuries suffered by the other worker. Southern Marinette County sustained damage due to the storms. In the City of Marinette, officials report downed trees and power outages. A dock wall along Menominee River near Waupaca Foundry was struck when a ship broke free from a port. Two small tugs were able to stop the ship from striking the Menekaunee Bridge (Ogden Street Bridge).

Waushara County – Downed trees in Wild Rose and the village of Plainfield. Part of the roof blew off at the Wild Rose Hotel.

Waupaca County – Trinity Lutheran Church in New London was destroyed.

Winnebago County - At this time, no major damage to report.  The extent of the damage appears to be north of Winnebago County.

Wood County - Dexterville reports 10 sheds damaged. One house also had half of its roof blown off. Trees are down throughout the community.

From WE Energies – 53,000 total customers out of power, 42,000 in Outagamie Co.  WE Energies is still anticipating that it will take three days before power is restored.  They received damages to three of their sub-stations.  They have over 200 crews enroute to the affected areas, along with 35 forestry resources, and 30 troubleshooters.  Their mobile command center is in route to Weyauwega and will integrate with the Incident Command staff.

From WPS -   More than 60 broken poles are reported. More than 100 crews are responding to the damage.  Additional crews from Madison Gas and Electric are on their way to Two Rivers, as well as UPPCo, which is heading to the Green Bay/Greenleaf area.

The State Emergency Operations Center remains at level 4. The WEM Administrator, Senior Duty Officer and Duty Officer will continue to monitor the situation.

There have been no reports of injures.