It could take until Sunday to finish repairs to Outagamie County power grid damaged by Wednesday night tornado, thunderstorms
It could take until Sunday afternoon before repairs are finished in Outagamie County where entire communities lost power following a tornado and strong line of thunderstorms that ripped through Wisconsin late Wednesday afternoon.
Matt Cullen, a senior communications specialist from WEC Energy Group, the parent company of Wisconsin Public Service, said many electric circuits were badly damaged and will need to be rebuilt. We Energies also said on Wednesday that the process of restoring power would be a "multi-day operation."
About 40,000 county residents lost power on Wednesday night, and 14,000 are still without power as of Friday morning, according to We Energies' outage map. This includes Black Creek, Dale, Freedom, Hortonville and Seymour as well as about 1,300 residents in Appleton, Grand Chute and Greenville.
For those travelling in Outagamie County, here is an updated Road Closure & Detour Map. Remember, do not go around or move any signs or barricades! pic.twitter.com/tbGIRymNTe
— Outagamie County Emergency Management (@OutagamieEM) June 17, 2022
More: See video of a tornado touch down in central Wisconsin, near Tomah and Oakdale
An EF-1 tornado hit Seymour around 6:17 p.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service in Green Bay. With winds between 86 and 110 miles per hour, EF-1 is the second mildest rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which ranges from EF-0 to EF-5. No injuries were reported.
In addition, the weather service Thursday reported three other tornadoes across Wisconsin from Wednesday's storm, including near Tomah, Mauston and LaFarge.
So far, crews have confirmed an EF-2 tornado with wind speeds of 115 mph near Tomah in Monroe County. The tornado was 200 yards wide at one point, according to the weather service office in La Crosse.
The tornado developed south of Tomah and tracked northeast to just east of Wyeville, before dissipating in the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge.
The tornado was on the ground for more than 30 minutes, from 3:58 p.m. to 4:34 p.m., and traveled just under 21 miles, according to the weather service.
Tree damage occurred along the length of the tornado's path and buildings were damaged south of Wyeville.
Meanwhile, an EF-1 tornado with wind speeds of 90 mph touched down near Mauston on Wednesday.
The tornado “tracked intermittently from southern sections of Mauston northeastward across rural Juneau County, dissipating near the Wisconsin River,” the weather service said in a statement.
The tornado touched down at 4:43 p.m. one mile southwest of Mauston. It was on the ground for 8.4 miles and was 150 yards wide. It dissipated at 4:52 p.m.
Another tornado was confirmed near LaFarge in Vernon County.
The tornado was rated an EF-1 with wind speeds of 100 mph. It was on the ground for 7 minutes and traveled 6 miles. It mostly caused tree damage, but did cause minor damage to buildings, the weather service said.
You can check for updates on We Energies' outage map.
Contact Rebecca Loroff at 920-907-7801 or rloroff@gannett.com. Joe Taschler of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Outagamie County power grid not likely fixed until Sunday, WPS says
