'We’ve never had anything like that:' Kenosha County cleans up after powerful storms

KENOSHA COUNTY, Wis. - Uprooted trees and downed power lines, that’s the aftermath of tornado and thunderstorm warnings across our viewing area Monday, Aug. 10. 

It really was a rollercoaster of a system, especially for those in the Trevor community, who were dealing with the cleanup Monday evening.

Monday’s severe storms packed a punch throughout parts of southeastern Wisconsin, bringing heavy rain and high winds. 

In Kenosha County’s Village of Trevor, as soon as the storms moved out, the cleanup efforts began.

“It swept across. We were watching it. You really didn’t see any rotation. It just came through, and it just cleared out the entire neighborhood. straight across,” said Jim Breckler, who lost his garage in the storms.

Downed power lines and uprooted trees made up most of the debris, but some neighbors near Camp Lake were also dealing with significant property damage.  

Trees went through the roofs of other homes and garages. According to neighbors, a boat inside a garage somehow escaped what could’ve been severe damage.

“Thirty years I’ve been here -- I never… we had some high winds and some good rains, but we’ve never had anything like that,” Tom Stewart said. 

The system swept through fast. 

“It got really windy. I couldn't see the lake. I saw the water swirling, and the next thing I knew, I couldn't see anything,” Stewart said.

He and his son took shelter in their basement. He says the worst of the storm lasted about a minute.

“I’ve never seen the neighborhood with this much damage before ever,” Troy Stewart said.

A captain with the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department said most of the damage they responded to was in the Salem and Camp Lake area. Several firefighters had to extinguish trees that caught fire due to downed power-lines. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.