"On pins and needles:" Restaurant owners hoped they wouldn't suffer weather damage yet again

ELKHORN (WITI) -- Storms moving in from the south and west prompted a Tornado Watch, a Severe Thunderstorm Watch and several warnings Thursday, April 9th, including a Tornado Warning that was issued around 8:00 p.m. for Racine, Kenosha and Walworth counties. FOX6's Jenna Sachs was in Elkhorn in Walworth County as that strong storm moved through.

In Elkhorn, the most severe weather didn't arrive until Thursday night.

Other areas saw heavy rain beginning Wednesday night that led to flooding. Elkhorn saw heavy rain, thunder and lightning that had many watching the sky.

Michael Hanley calls himself a weather enthusiast.

"I`m kind of a weather geek," Hanley said.

A general aviation pilot, Hanley likes to watch the spring storms roll in.

"In the world of flying you watch the weather all the time," Hanley said.

His family pulled off the road Thursday night at Big Foot Beach in Lake Geneva.

"You can hear the thunder out to our southwest. This is kind of a fun day for me," Hanley said.

Further north in Elkhorn, the manager of the "Holi Cannoli" restaurant had good reason to be anxious.

"We`re on pins and needles. I hope it will miss us because I can`t afford for it to be closed anymore," Melissa Lopardo said.

The restaurant just reopened on Wednesday, April 8th after winter storms damaged its roof.

"We had to close for about a month just so they could fix it," Lopardo said.

There was some thunder and moderate rain as the storms passed to the south, but nothing too severe in Elkhorn.

Holi Cannoli customer Larry Hake said he has experience with tornado damage.

"I`m fro Washington, Illinois that got hit with the big tornado," Hake said.

As the evening passed and the sun set, another round of rain moved in and lightning illuminated the sky.

"It's quite the light show! It`s like 4th of July at night" Kelly Hinton said.