Tornado strikes Colby area

By Kevin O’Brien

Carter Grewe and a few of his co-workers at Colby Chrysler Center were standing outside the dealership last Thursday evening, watching a storm coming in, when suddenly they noticed the rain turn sideways and the roof of the building start to lift.

Within a matter of moments, Carter and his father, Shannon, were inside a windowless office with three of their employees, waiting for the raging storm to pass. That storm turned out to be an EF-2 tornado – rated as “strong” on the Enhanced Fujita Scale – and it dissipated shortly after entering the city of Colby’s industrial park on CTH N.

“It was there and gone real fast,” Carter said.

About 80 vehicles, including all 60 of the cars and trucks for sale on the lot, were damaged by last Thursday’s tornado, which also flattened several farm buildings, ripped the roof off a house and snapped multiple power poles, leaving thousands without electricity going into last weekend.

Carter said he and his dad, who owns the dealership, are working with their insurance

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DIRECT HIT - A farm at the intersection of Colby Factory Road and Hiline Avenue was devastated by an EF-2 tornado that tore through the township and city of Colby on Thursday. Multiple power poles were also snapped, leaving many without power going into last weekend.

STAFF PHOTO/KEVIN O’BRIEN Tornado

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company this week to determine the extent of the damage. The building itself is still intact, but the exterior needs work, as the roof has some holes it and a few of the solar panels are missing, he said.

“We’re going to need a facelift for sure,” he said. “All of our siding is junk.”

No injuries were reported as a result of the tornado, and total damage estimates have not been determined.

According to the National Weather Service, the tornado developed in the farm fields west of Unity, near the intersection of CTH K and Badger, and made its way northeast toward the city of Colby. Along its 4.5-mile path, the tornado “damaged multiple farm outbuildings, trees, power poles, and a home,” which had “a majority of its roof removed,” the NWS reported.

The 120 mile-per-hour winds uprooted trees and blew debris hundreds of yards away as it crossed the southeast corner of the town of Colby before entering the city. The tornado lasted approximately seven minutes, from 5:21 to 5:28 p.m., according to the the NWS.

On the day after the storm hit, Xcel Energy said its “crews have made good progress in restoring power to more than 20,000 customers in northwestern Wisconsin, including the hardest hit areas in Clark, Marathon and Rusk counties.”

“The weather resulted in dozens of broken poles and downed lines and crews have worked throughout the night and day repairing and replacing equipment,” the press release said.

According to Xcel, most of the utility’s customers had their service restored by late Friday night, but about 500 customers, including the entire community of Unity, had to wait until late Saturday for the power to come back on.

“More than 100 crews and support staff are working as quickly and safely as possible, including additional Xcel Energy and contract crews from others areas who have been mobilized and are assisting with the restoration efforts in the impacted areas,” the utility stated.

A common sight in the aftermath of the storm was neighbors helping neighbors, especially at the intersection of Hiline Avenue and Colby Factory Road, where one farm was virtually flattened and several others sustained significant damage.

Carter said the response from customers and the community at large has been great, with a lot of people showing up the night of the storm to help clean up. Local resident James Kulp brought a whole crew of volunteers with machinery and tools to help out.

“We had this place all cleaned up within a couple of hours,” he said, noting his appreciation for the community and his employees. “They were very professional, very fast and very kind to help us as much as they did.”

A miraculous survival

In the midst of all the chaos and destruction during last Thursday’s tornado, a baby who briefly disappeared among the rubble of a collapsed barn was found alive and largely unscathed.

Local fire chief Joe Mueller relayed the story at Tuesday’s meeting of the Central Fire and EMS board. He said the fire department had been dispatched to the intersection of Colby Factory Road and Hiline Avenue for two different calls.

One of those involved a woman who was reportedly trapped in her car underneath some fallen power lines, but once firefighters arrived, she was gone.

The other call involved a baby that was apparently trapped under a barn taken down by the storm. When he arrived on scene, Mueller said two men were digging through the debris, desperately looking for the child.

“I could hear her crying, so that was a good sign,” he said. “It was only by the grace of God that that kid didn’t die in there.”

Mueller said the baby was found surrounded on all sides by fallen silo staves, the concrete building blocks used to construct the familiar farm towers.

“She had one little scratch on her forehead,” he said.

Other area storms

Two other tornadoes, both south of Loyal, were reported in Clark County on the same night as the Colby twister, but neither of them packed as much punch. A brief funnel cloud formed near Christe, from 4:47 to 4:48 p.m., and an EF-0 tornado cut across 2.3 miles of rural land southeast of Loyal.

Jason Thornton, Clark County’s emergency management director, said there’s no good way to determine exactly how much damage was done during the flurry of storm activity on May 15.

“There’s so much sporadic damage to buildings through the whole county, it’s really hard to compile a good number,” he said.

A fair number of garages and sheds were taken down in the central part of the county, but the wreckage was “nowhere near what happened up at Colby,” he said.

Thornton said he does not expect any disaster declarations to come out of the state or federal governments.

“I haven’t heard of anything, but I wouldn’t bank on it,” he said.

DROPPED FROM THE SKY - The crushed car pictured above was one of over 80 vehicles in the Colby Chrysler Center lot damaged by last Thursday’s tornado.

STAFF PHOTO/KRIS O’LEARY

PATH OF DESTRUCTION - The sun sets on a rubble-strewn field following last Thursday’s tornado, which started west of Unity and traveled about seven miles through the town of Colby before entering the city. STAFF PHOTO/KRIS OLEARY