Storms wreak havoc in Shawano County

Possible tornadoes in Navarino, Almon suspected as trees fall, power fails
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

UPDATED: 1 p.m. June 16

Storms that swept through northeast Wisconsin on June 15 left damage and debris in their wake, as the possibility of two tornadoes touching down in Shawano County is being investigated.

The storms arrived in Shawano County around 5 p.m., impacting the whole county, but more severe damage is being reported on the east and west sides.

According to a press release from the county’s emergency management office, severe damage was found in the towns of Almon, Angelica, Lessor and Navarino. In Navarino, especially around the Navarino Wildlife Area, large trees fell near roads and landed on power lines.

There was a report of a tornado touching down in Navarino, according to Chris Madle, the county’s emergency management coordinator, but it has not been confirmed.

“I’ve been in touch with the National Weather Service out of Green Bay, and they had mentioned they believed one had touched down there,” Madle said. “I know they were heading out there to do some damage assessment on their own, but I haven’t heard any further details such as wind speeds or anything like that.”

Madle said there is also a report that a tornado touched down in the Shepley area between Wittenberg and Bowler.

“We had multiple houses out there where there were trees on top of their roofs that had blown over, but no injuries,” he said.

Some trees had also knocked down power lines on County Road D near Kolpack Road in Bowler, according to Madle, and that was one of the last roads to be opened in the county on the morning of June 16.

The Pulaski and Menominee Indian school districts reported their summer school classes and other operations were cancelled for June 16 due to power outages. Madle did not know how many people in the area were without power,

Only a few buildings were impacted by the high winds and possible tornadoes, according to Madle.

“It was like a couple houses here and there,” Madle said. “Really, the damage wasn’t terrible to any houses. The structures that had the most damage were pole-type buildings or barns. We had a couple of silos blow over, but residences were OK.”

The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans declared an emergency, announcing that power lines and some buildings were impacted by the storms.

“We have accessed significant damage from the storm,” Tribal President Shannon Holsey said in a statement on the tribe’s website. “Our emergency teams are working diligently to aide people and get live wires and trees removed from roads and homes as quickly as possible, we also have some areas without power. EMS response may be delayed as a result.”

Power was also out in Neopit and Zoar on the Menominee Reservation. One of the tribe’s Facebook pages reported that community centers and Menominee Tribal School were opening to provide food and allow residents to fill up water jugs.

Shawano County has not declared a state of emergency, according to Madle, even though neighboring Brown County did. Madle said he saw some of the damage in Brown County and saw that the eastern neighbor saw significantly more damage than Shawano County did.

“We’re still under an emergency declaration from the state, I believe, until Aug. 1,” Madle said. “We don’t have to declare emergency declarations. We can, but it’s not something we’re planning on doing right now.”

Madle encouraged private property owners to work with their insurance companies if their property was damaged but said there wasn’t much the county could do. His office has mainly been in contact with power companies to get updates on when electricity can be restored and ensuring roads are open and cleaned up.

He noted that work was still being done at the power substations near Wittenberg, Tigerton and the Town of Almon. The state Highway 160 corridor near Pulaski was also impacted by power outages and that it was going to take a couple of days to rebuild the grid there, impacting the village as well as the Town of Angelica.


lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com