'Looks like we had a tornado:' NWS surveys damage in Waukesha Co., where storms prompted warning

WAUKESHA COUNTY -- Strong to severe storms prompted two tornado warnings Tuesday night, Oct. 1 -- one in Jefferson County and the other in Waukesha County, where FOX6 News found a lot of damage Wednesday.

Dozens of trees were seemingly plucked from the ground. At one property alone, the homeowners estimated they lost about 15 trees. FOX6's cameras also captured the roof of a shed quite a distance from where it should be.

National Weather Service officials canvassed the county Wednesday.

"It looks like we had a tornado based on what we saw from radar last night," said Tim Halbach with the NWS.

Halbach said the storm's path, extent of damage, and scattered debris left behind would help investigators make an official determination.

"We are going to follow this all the way through Waukesha County until we can't find any more damage," said Halbach.

Laura Sumpter's home in Genesee was still dark Wednesday after power was cut to the whole street.

"It really did kind of sound like a train," said Sumpter. "You know how they say it sounds like a train? I could hear that it was hailing. I could hear the branches breaking. It was really windy. I could hear things hitting the house."

As snowplows were pulled out of a garage to clear branches from roads, SKYFOX captured one of the hardest-hit spots in the Town of Ottawa.

"My whole house was shaking and 20 seconds later it was over," said Keith Schmitz.

His shed's roof was peeled off and tossed a quarter of a mile away.

"I have a 30-foot trailer in there, and it moved it," said Schmitz.

Near Dousman, chainsaws would be buzzing for weeks. An uprooted elm tree fell away from David Lombardi's home, thankfully. Despite extensive damage, no feathers were ruffled when a much smaller tree fell on the family's chicken coop.

"Thank God no chickens were hurt," said Lombardi.

The NWS shared some good news -- there were no reported injuries from the storm.

"Within 10 minutes, it was done," said Lombardi.

The NWS did confirm an EF-1 tornado Tuesday night in Jefferson County, and an EF-0 tornado in Fort Atkinson.