Straight Line Winds Strike Danbury WI Destroying Property and Downing Powerlines

4th of July weekend, the first trip to our recently purchased cabin. We closed on Tuesday and spent the next couple days preparing for the one hour trip. There is much work to be done. Not only is there interior damage to contend with, the yard has been let go for quite a while.

Little did we know Mother Nature had other ideas for our 4 day weekend.

We arrived early Thursday evening and immediately set about getting the bathroom and kitchen up and running. The cleaning company the bank hired to winterize the property had sealed off the electrical panel. Hopefully they had protected the well and septic from freezing well enough that it wouldn't take much to get everything back on line.

With no clue as to which circuit breaker operated what, it took all of about an hour to get the well pump working, the toilet flushing, and most important the shower running hot. After a quick shower we retired to the air conditioned comfort of the motor home and planned our next days work.

Danbury is just far enough south of Lake Superior that influence from its massive deposit of cold water sadly doesn't relieve the oppressive heat and humidity that blanketed the area. Friday, from the moment we got out of bed it was already uncomfortable and just got worse throughout the day.

We worked on, mowing about an acre of rambling lawn and feeding a good sized bonfire to get rid of scrap wood and half burned waste left from the previous owner. In the house we started tearing down damaged paneling. Being a foreclosure the owners destroyed as much as they could before they left.

It was a long hard days work that left us both drained physically and very dirty. We finished up with nice hot showers then returned to our motor home living quarters for the evening. Having our air conditioned life boat for making meals and comfortable sleeping accommodations made the whole experience doable.

About 7 PM the rain started coming down. Not just the gentle pitter patter of drops on the roof, but more like standing under a water fall with gallon upon gallon pounding upon the roof of our RV.

Because of the extreme heat, we had temporarily positioned a window air conditioner unit in the RV's bedroom window to supplement the roof air that just couldn't keep up. It kept the sleeping area iceberg cold, something that makes sleeping easier for us thin blooded northerners used to deep snow most of the year.

When the storm started the flood of water immediately washed through the paper towels that we had used to plug air gaps around the A/C. We only thought about keeping mosquitoes out. We never expected such a downpour.

As I snatched the A/C from the window Mary slammed the sliding window shut with such force the screen panel flew off into the night. As we spent the next few minutes sopping up the water that got in with bath towels the intensity of the storm continued to increase.

The motor home rocked back and forth, the surrounding pine forest was being wrenched violently to and fro. There were quite a few minutes where we feared the wind would topple the RV or worse.

It all lasted 15-20 minutes then ended allowing us to finish the evening thinking we had only seen a nasty summer rain storm. Though the electrical power was out, we still had our on board generator, the bedroom was cool and off to sleep we went.

What a different world we awoke to the next morning.

Everything around us was bright sunny blue skies and fresh washed forest air. Looking down our long driveway toward the main road we could see that our neighbors had arrived sometime the night before, it was time to go introduce ourselves as the new owners of the house at the end of the easement that crossed their property.

They told us of massive damage, they had to break out the chainsaws to clear a path to get into their little travel trailer cabin. We noticed that the sound of chainsaws could still be heard coming from all directions around us. A sound that continued throughout the day and probably will be part of the atmosphere for most of the summer.

Power lines are down, wires laying across the highway in a number of places. The dirt road leading back into this summer cottage and cabin resort area was choked with downed trees taking most of a day to just cut enough of a path to get out for supplies.

We hopped on our 4-wheel ATV and headed out to survey the damage. It was amazing how close we came to disaster. Though not a single tree on our property had been downed a few hundred feet down the road in either direction revealed in places total destruction. We weaved in and out and slowly worked our way some five miles further into the wilderness.

Most places along the way had driveways clogged with downed trees and minor damage to campers, cars or cabins. Other places looked like a bomb had been dropped with huge trees laying like pick up sticks all over their yards.

The severity of the damage to the whole area still hadn't hit home. When we returned to our safe little haven we got in the van and decided to head into Danbury WI with hopes of picking up a map of the local ATV trails as that activity is one of the main reasons we purchased this property in the first place.

All along the 10 mile drive to town we saw massive amounts of trees down along the highway. Houses with trees crushing their roofs, cars flattened by falling trees, and everywhere passage into driveways blocked by downed timber.

Once we got to Danbury the whole town was busy and full of people. Surprisingly all the stores were closed or dealing only on a cash basis. Power poles and wires were down throughout town too. Everyone was in a panic to find ice and drinking water, it was going to be quite awhile before electricity would be coming back on.

With everyone dealing with more pressing matters we sheepishly asked for a ATV trail map at the local gas station/convenience store. The gentleman holding the door restricting the flow of people into the store reached around the counter and happily provided the map we sought. You can't beat the upper Midwest for people eager to accommodate your every need, regardless of how poor the timing was on our part.

As we left town, headed back to our little cabin in the woods, we noticed the big sign proudly stating "Welcome to Danbury" had been sheared in half by a falling tree. That pretty much told the whole story for this weekend.

We had with us a couple jugs that we planned on filling with river water so we could flush our toilet, since without power the well was of little use. There is a beautiful park and boat launch rest area just north of our dirt road on hwy 35 headed back to Superior.

I should probably restate that last paragraph as more accurately there used to be a beautiful little park and wayside rest area. The beauty of the park was its abundance of mature pines towering high above the grounds. There used to be modern concrete restrooms and well mowed grounds suitable for picnics. The boat launch being most often used as a jumping off point for canoe trips supplied by the local canoe rental store.

The whole park was unrecognizable. All the towering pines had come down and now blocked access to both the parking lot and picnic area. The boat launch was completely blocked off by trees that camouflaged the landing so completely we had a hard time finding it.

Two of the canoe rental company's buses sat abandoned near the launch area. One having its cargo trailer crushed by an 18" thick tree that came down across it. The windshield was smashed as well, but the overall bus remained intact. As per the Park Rangers that were surveying the damage it appeared no one had been injured.

After filling our water jugs we returned home to our untouched cabin understanding just how fortunate we were to have gone through the storm virtually untouched. Many around us were not nearly as lucky, it will be many months before life around Danbury WI will return to normal. There is quite the mess to clean up.