EF3 Tornado Hits SE Wisconsin

This tornado was classified as an EF3, wind speeds from 138 - 167 miles per hour. The distance of this tornado was 10.5 miles, traveling over Walworth and Kenosha counties. The estimated diameter at its strongest was 200 yards. It is figured the tornado spent 17 - 22 minutes on the ground.

My family was very fortunate Monday, coming up from the basement, we were all safe. The only damage to our home was a roof on our sun porch. As we went outside our neighbors were not as fortunate. Twenty five homes were severely damaged or totally destroyed. Seven had moderate damage and twenty three homes had minor damages.

I am happy to report that there were no fatalities and only minor injuries have occurred. I believe a lot had to do with the early warning of the town's siren and people had plenty of time to get to their basements. Another factor that helped was, at 4:15 pm a lot of people were still not home from work.

Within a few minutes there were sirens of emergency vehicles headed our way. My husband and daughter ran up the road to see how they could help. I told them I would behind and if anyone needed help with anything they could they come here. Soon my husband was helping an officer direct traffic. My daughter and I were getting rain gear and looking for flashlights, as the darkness was starting to set in.

Of course there was not any electricity, phone lines were down and the cell phone connectivity was getting very bad. There was a gas leak down the road and they were trying to evacuate everyone from the subdivision. Frantic parents were trying to get home and see if their children were okay, family members trying to check on other family members, and unfortunately no one could be allowed in the area. A school bus arrived and started taking the tornado victims to the nearby elementary school. Their families were informed they could go to the school and check on loved ones.

That night people were already donating cases of water and blankets to the school. The donations and volunteer help has been overwhelming. Tuesday morning the families were allowed to go back to their homes and get what possession they had left. Then clean up started.

With an estimated $18 million in damages clean up efforts continue here in Kenosha county. Despite rain and snow, today there were over one hundred volunteers that showed up to help. Town's people say rebuilding will be slow, but they will rebuild.