Tornado destroys barn near Norwalk

County still assessing damage from weekend storms

 The funnel cloud, which left an 80-foot path and had wind speeds of 105 mph, damaged the nearby Norwalk Rod & Gun Club building.
 The funnel cloud, which left an 80-foot path and had wind speeds of 105 mph, damaged the nearby Norwalk Rod & Gun Club building.
 Herald photo by Pat Mulvaney
Posted

A strong storm system that pushed through the area Wednesday afternoon produced a tornado that wiped out a barn near Norwalk.

The EF1 tornado, which had peak winds of 105 mph, touched down just north of Norwalk on Cty. Hwy. T near Kennel Avenue, destroying a barn owned by Joe Hansen. It also severely damaged the nearby Norwalk Rod & Gun Club building.

According to the National Weather Service in La Crosse, the tornado, which left an 80-yard path of snapped hardwood trees, touched down around 1:45 p.m. and may have skipped across the landscape. The worst damage was near the touchdown site on Cty. Hwy. T.

The tornado crossed the Elroy Sparta Bicycle Trail, leaving downed trees on the trail, which remained closed  in the area Wednesday afternoon.

A witness reported seeing the funnel as he was driving down Cty. Hwy. T. toward Hwy. 71. He said he saw pieces of tin that looked like pizza boxes swirling through the air before witnessing the barn essentially explode. No injuries were reported as a result of the storm, which also produced one-inch hail.

Monday’s storm comes on the heels of a weather system that dumped up to nearly six inches of rain in areas of Monroe County, swelling rivers over their banks and causing widespread damage.

According to Monroe County Emergency Management Coordinator Jared Tessman, most of the storm damage was confined to the Town of Portland in the southwest corner of the county. He said some of the damage was to areas that had just been repaired from the 2019 storms when the area was declared a disaster area. They included Oakdale, Nashville and Manna avenues.

“Basically, it’s the southwest corner of the Town of Portland in the Coon Creek Watershed area,” he said. “A lot of that stuff is damaged yet again and now they’re having to fix it for the fourth time in five years.

“When you’re getting up to eight inches of rain over a two-to-three-hour period the roads can’t take it, the topography can’t take it.”

A big part of the problem with the recurring damage, Tessman pointed out, is that the township received Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) funding to repair damage to infrastructure but under its rules it could only build back to pre-disaster conditions instead of improving the areas to make them more resilient to these types of weather events.

This time, in the absence of a state or federally declared disaster, the township is left to its own devices to make the repairs. However, Tessman said he is working with town officials to get damage estimates to submit to the Wisconsin Disaster Fund (WDF).

If approved, the town is eligible for 70% funding for repairs, which would include improvements to infrastructure. The town would be responsible for a 30% funding match, which could be achieved through labor and material costs and equipment hours.

The Town of Portland declared its own emergency Monday, which is one of the steps necessary to apply for WDF funding.

Monroe County tornado, EF1 Tornado, Monroe County Emergency Management Coordinator Jared Tessman

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