A trail of damaged homes and buildings dotted a wide swath of the United States Saturday after a gust of damaging winds and reported tornadoes ripped off roofs, uprooted trees and left rural roads impassable with debris.
No deaths were reported following Friday’s storms that crossed the Upper Midwest and delivered the last round bad weather hitting the region. Authorities have prepared residents for a long recovery in some rural communities.
“We are extremely fortunate that this storm did not result in any deaths or serious injuries,” Stephenson County Sheriff Steve Stovall said of the storm that hit Lena, Illinois, on Friday.
Officials in Wisconsin and Minnesota echoed those sentiments.
In central Wisconsin, a tornado that ripped through the towns of Kronenwetter and Ringle damaged homes and left some residents briefly trapped in their basements, Ringle Fire Chief Chris Kielman told reporters.
Marathon County Sheriff Chad Billeb said he hasn’t seen this much devastation in his 34 years in law enforcement.
“A lot of people are going to need a lot of help,” Billeb said of Wisconsin’s storms.
In Olmsted County, Minnesota, sheriff’s officials said tornadoes caused “multiple levels” of damage. At least 30 homes were damaged in Marion Township, with a number of them suffering damage described as significant. Authorities went door to door in the community to check on residents.
The National Weather Service said the damage was likely caused by tornadoes and surveys of affected areas would be conducted over the weekend.
In Illinois, 14-year-old Leo Zach had just arrived at the high school band room for a music competition when the building started shaking and the power went out. He said the room was full of students and some were very scared and having panic attacks.
“I’m definitely on the luckier side of how this could have happened,” he said. “I was just trying to stay calm and help others.”
When they came out, they found some of the gymnasium windows torn out and part of the school’s roof torn off.
Photos and videos posted online showed a destroyed garage, bricks torn from buildings and demolished fences.
Lena is a village of nearly 3,000 people, located about 188 kilometers northwest of Chicago.
Rachel Nemon was going to pick up her stepson from Lena’s middle school when she had to stop at a car wash to get out of the storm. She saw a large tree being ripped from the ground and sparks flying in front of her.
“It’s something you see online, not in real life, especially in a small town in Illinois,” she said.