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	www.PamRotella.com Tornado hits Eagle, Wisconsin 22 June 2010; Last updated 25 June 2010 Pam Rotella A violent storm caused extensive damage across Wisconsin Monday night, generating multiple funnel clouds and a tornado in the Waukesha County village of Eagle. According to the National Weather Service, the tornado touched down at 9:11 p.m. Monday night, tearing a path 4.8 miles long by up to one half mile wide with an estimated maximum wind speed of 125 to 130 mph. NOAA estimated 100 structures were damaged in and around Eagle, with major tree damage. Local residents described a noisy storm with heavy downpours, multiple lightning flashes per second, and a noticeable drop in pressure. The town of Eagle was directly impacted along with surrounding areas. Homes were demolished, cars were overturned, and electrical power was out. A few nearby towns suffered at least some damage, including Muskego, Vernon, Big Bend, and Hales Corners. The neighboring towns of Mukwonago and Dousman also suffered power outages, but avoided major damage. The following morning, most streets in the small town of Eagle were blockaded by law enforcement, and local tourist attractions were closed. Kettle Moraine Ranch and Old World Wisconsin did not open on Tuesday. Mike Delanguillette of Kettle Moraine Ranch confirmed that the ranch would not open Tuesday due to needed repairs, and that the ranch could possibly remain closed for the rest of the week. Roads to Old World Wisconsin were blocked off. An employee of Old World Wisconsin named Holly was volunteering at the Red Cross booth, and was able to confirm that the attraction was also closed for the day. Trees were down in its parking lot and one of its barns had been damaged, although all animals in the barn had survived, Holly said. Tuesday morning, power was out in Eagle and only a few streets remained open. Along Main Street, Mike Sadler, a local plumber, was cutting a broken tree in his front yard while his family removed the pieces. Sadler remembered the storm as "noise all around me" with lightning that was almost continuous, giving the appearance of daylight. He and his family weathered the storm in their basement as the tornado's worst devastation unfolded only a few blocks away. The Sadler home was spared. "Trees down everywhere" was how Barb Griffin of G&G Tree Service West in Delafield remembers the scene. As she waited for her order at Denny's Pizza in Dousman, Griffin said that her company had received calls from clients in Eagle and Muskego on Tuesday morning. As she traveled to the address, Griffin saw power lines down along Markham Road, a farm with all of its trees down, and an overturned camper. In a subdivision just off of Markham, there were clothes, rolled up steel, and "lawn furniture everywhere." When Griffin arrived at the job site, the home's deck was smashed, the garage across the street was smashed, and of course trees were down. She saw people trying to get a mattress out of a nearby house. Mrs. Griffin said she was lucky to even reach her job. The sheriffs department had blocked off most of the town, telling her that wristbands to enter the restricted zone were for residents only, and then only with deputy escort. Griffin was able to reach her client because the address was just before the cutoff point, but she was informed that if returning the following day, she would need a wristband to reenter. Griffin wondered whether the upcoming Kettle Moraine Days festival would go forward. It was scheduled for the weekend, and the rides had already arrived. (There are reports in the press that the festival will go forward, although I haven't confirmed this yet. - PR) In one of the subdivisions adjacent to Markham Road, Tim Doke and his wife Leslie were cutting and removing a tree that had fallen on a car in their driveway, smashing its windows. The Dokes had a weather radio and had been expecting the storm. They recalled heavy downpours, the multiple lightning flashes per second described by other residents, and a sound like a freight train. Mr. Doke said that during the storm, the attic's hatch had been sucked into their attic from the sudden pressure drop, although their roof didn't appear to have serious damage. In the Dokes' backyard, lilac bushes had been toppled, downed tree limbs blanketed the lawn, their children's playhouse had been thrown on its side, and lawn furniture was a tangled mass. At the Pick 'N Save grocery store in nearby Mukwonago, a deli worker named Wanda Emory apologized for their empty coffee urn. She didn't realize it was empty, she explained -- they'd gone through three urns by lunchtime Tuesday. When I joked that it must be good coffee, she explained that it's always this way during power outages. The store has a backup generator, and so while many other businesses can't remain open, their store can. That morning, people had come from surrounding areas like Eagle, Dousman, and Mukwonago where power had been out to buy things like coffee and ice. She told me of a past power outage where the deli had sold over 300 pieces of chicken in one day because people couldn't find warm food in many places. Wanda confirmed the severe lightning storm described by other residents, although her own home in Phantom Lake escaped any serious damage. However, the strong winds caused one of her neighbor's awnings to fly off and tangle itself high in her elm tree. Stories of the storm were in the air everywhere. A wine vendor stocking shelves at the same Pick 'N Save had seen a boat crossing Little Muskego Lake on its own the previous night. It had apparently broken free from its mooring in the storm, and every time the lightning flashed, he said, the boat had traveled a little farther across the lake, until it finally reached the other side. In neighboring Dousman, patrons of the Dousman House Bar shared stories of damage to relatives' homes and fighting the local sheriffs blockade to check on their families. A large TV hung over the bar with major news network coverage of the most heavily damaged areas. The damage was extensive, but because of the blockades, the most severe damage could not yet be seen by most reporters. Only those with gadgets like news helicopters and satellite trucks could gather pictures from the other side of the barriers. The sheriffs deputies blockading streets were directing media to the municipal center for the same paper wristbands issued to residents. By early afternoon, after a lengthy wait, a photographer for the Janesville paper and I were told that so far only residents would be issued wristbands. The Deputy in charge said that he had to escort people in and out of that zone, and he didn't want to take the press just yet. Later in the day I noticed that at least some reporters from the major TV news networks were able to report from inside of the blockaded zone. After being turned away from the most seriously damaged streets, I decided to continue gathering news along the few roads open to the public, including areas around Markham Road. The Janesville photographer decided to stay at the municipal center, hoping that the Sheriffs department would eventually allow him in. As I drove out of town on Main Street to survey that area, and then turned to come back, I was stopped by yet another Sheriffs road block. The Waukesha deputy who confronted me said that I couldn't return to Eagle via the road I had just used to exit only minutes earlier. Of course I protested. I was just there, taking pictures. I only wanted to continue photographing the few roads that were still open to the public, I told the officer, who identified himself as Deputy Beckler from the Waukesha County Sheriffs Department. "You can't just drive around town and take pictures!" Beckler told me. I couldn't believe my ears. Had he ever even been to this country? "WHAT?!? Yes you CAN!" spontaneously sprang from my mouth, in a shocked tone that made it clear he should have studied harder. Buy that kid a copy of the First Amendment! The deputy contacted somebody via radio, who then radioed back confirmation that they would NOT allow me to pass back into Main Street's eastern end. So I had to waste more time and gasoline circling back to Highway 59 where streets connecting to Main Street and Markham Road were still open. I had already been forced back to Highway 59 or Markham Road a few times, just to return to streets blockaded in one direction but not the other. Larger news organizations have legal departments to deal with such problems. As an independent, I have to pick my battles, and the right to cover a local weather story isn't high on my list. However, this may explain why some journalists from the major TV networks were allowed past the barriers while journalists from smaller news organizations were left baking in the sun near the Red Cross tent. The big organizations have large, aggressive legal departments; we do not. For now, I should probably complain to the deputy's supervisor, just because people they put on the streets should know their jobs. I'll see if I can find the time. Usually I work around problems like that, and in this case the delay gave those outside of the most seriously damaged areas the chance to tell their stories, too. Still, I wasn't expecting a constitutional crisis from a weather story. Restricted zones locked down, journalists circling the town to get past blockade confusion, police saying you can't take pictures in America -- what was I covering here, a small Midwestern town's tornado, or a war zone? ----- First Amendment Rights: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Back to the top Back to Pam's vegan vegetarian FUN page Pam's vegan vegetarian cookbook, with vegan vegetarian recipes © 2010 by Pam Rotella