8/19/11 F-1 Class Tornado Hits W

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The National weather Service at 4:40 pm indicated a swirling wind formation was spotted north west of the Wausaukee area and a tornado warning was being issued.

"Brian Hartnell quotes"
     The sky North of the Wausaukee area was very dark at 4:30 Pm as I looked North to turn onto Hwy 141 from my Jackson Street Location. I just assumed it was a normal thunderstorm coming into the area by seeing the dark sky.   As I traveled South on the highway toward Middle Inlet, I heard the radio warning issued by the National Weather Service.

     Ginny Taylor was at the School entrance location at the time the storm was hitting the trailer area/Bucks Recycling. The wind was quite strong and was making the car feel as if it was going to lift off the highway. She continued south away from the swirling winds. Her photo was snapped from the Village of Wausaukee facing North. In the background it appears to have traveled to the east side of the Highway by the time the picture had been taken.

     The EF-1 Tornado carried a wind speed of 105 miles per hour and the outlying areas to the funnel were in excess of 86 mph. The tornado path covered a distance of approximately 7 to 8 miles. Heavy rain was forced horizontally from the wind speed and was mixed with hail intermittently. Trees were snapped off, uprooted, limbs broken, leaves and debris was scattered across the entire Village. The tornado path came east from the Long Lake area just north of the village limits approximately just outside the elementary school fence line and continued East across the road going in the direction of the Ballas Ball Field. The high winds did their share of damage by uprooting hundreds of trees along the 7 mile path and within the village limits with four homes having trees fall on their roofs. Most debris and uprooted or snapped trunks fell onto open property areas not damaging structures. There was a fair amount of debris covering streets from the winds.

     One fatality was recorded from the uprooting of a trailer on the Bucks Recycling property. Douglas Brem was inside the trailer when it was lifted and turned over crushing him within the structure. Brem had recently moved to the Wausaukee Area and had been a resident only about a week.

     Power to 2000 residents of the Wausaukee area was disrupted from 6 pm until restored at 1:00 am for most residents. Pockets of power were out for approximately 200 residents until late Saturday.

     Northwoods traditions lost a sign panel from their overhead sign, the two tents with aluminum tubing for the farmers market near Hoovers were all on the ground, a tree was downed in the park with a lot of debris covering the pavilion areas.

     The heaviest structural damages were to Bucks Recycling center, the 4 trailers on the lot, School perimeter fence line, various homes throughout the Village, and the Ballas Ball Field. Hundreds of trees were uprooted or broken off throughout the 7-8 mile path.

     Evidence of damage could be seen down Highway 180 from Wausaukee to Bear Point Yacht Club. Much of the damage consisted of snapped off trees, uprooted trees and broken limbs with debris scattered across the road. On the Northwest end of town along Old 38 you could see considerable damage in the tree lines and the actual path of the tornado by the bending and breaking of the trees in the direction the storm was traveling.