Powerlessness and Miracles

Tornadoes Rip Wisconsin

A series of tornadoes blitzed the west-central and southern part of the state Thursday, jolting communities with flattened homes, uprooted trees and knocked-down power lines.

The tornadoes, which left at least one dead and about two dozen injured, were accompanied by heavy thunderstorms that rolled across the state, carrying along shingles and debris that fell from the darkening sky.

Officials reported the heaviest damage in Stoughton, southeast of Madison, where officials said one person was killed and a subdivision was flattened. In the village of Viola in western Wisconsin, where the storm hit earlier, a tornado destroyed 80 to 90 houses.

Dane County Damage

Cottage Grove firefighters, who were among the first to arrive, reflected on a chaotic scene. Damage estimates relayed by Dane County officials as of midnight were far too low, firefighters said.

On Williams Road, "there are 20 (homes) destroyed on one block," Cottage Grove firefighter Ken Gulbranson said.

Firefighters - still working early today - stressed that officials were struggling to establish a reliable scope of damage because isolated farmhouses and rural neighborhoods were being searched.

...Dane County Coroner John Stanley confirmed that a 54-year-old Stoughton- area man died when a chimney fell on him in his basement, he would not identify the man or his address.


More from Stoughton

While sweating neighbors and friends pushed growling chainsaws through twisted oak branches from the road in front of the house, the Aces were counting blessings and surveying what remained of their farm. The couple were at the Pizza Hut in Stoughton before 6:30 p.m. when their son, Andrew, 19, home alone except for a pokey bloodhound named Joe, called.

"It got everything," Andrew told his mother.

That included a 140-foot by 60-foot pole building, much- admired by neighbors and farmers who know the value of quality work. It was finished a month ago, built by a crew of Amish carpenters from Dalton.

It is not salvageable, Cindy Ace said, sadly.

But surrounded by female friends beside the house - just as her husband was surrounded by male friends in front of the pole building - she also said, "at least we're all OK."

Huge corrugated steel grain bins appeared to have been squeezed like beer cans and shoved hundreds of feet, stopped only at the road by those oak trees. Long greenhouse frames were twisted, rotini-like. Jim Ace's beloved 1994 Chevrolet truck was flattened. Mud spattered the yellow siding of the home, which was heavily damaged but not destroyed. A tobacco shed was dismantled, with a large piece of roof thrown against the family home, a leaning section big enough to cover an entire side of the building.


Viola Hit Hard

Mike Geary of Viola said nearly every tree in the village of about 700 people was down or damaged and that many buildings were damaged. He described what happened as akin to a bomb going off.

Given the extent of the damage from the storms, it's a miracle that the death and injury toll is so low.

During a tornado, once you seek shelter, there is nothing you can do but ride it out and pray.

Yesterday evening reminded me of how powerless we really are and how fragile life is.