August 21, 2005
18 Tornadoes Hit Wisconsin in One Night
STOUGHTON, Wis., Aug. 20 (AP) - Emerging from her basement, Connie Janisch saw destruction all around her.

One of the tornadoes that hit the state on Thursday night ripped through Stoughton, a suburb southeast of Madison, destroying homes and dumping remnants of three other roofs in her yard. Then she considered what could have been.

"It was like God put a protective shield around us," she said Friday.

Meteorologists believe that 18 tornadoes touched down Thursday night in an area almost 100 miles long. The state averages 21 tornadoes a year, according to the National Weather Service.

One man was killed when his home near Stoughton collapsed in the storm, and about three dozen people were treated at hospitals for injuries. In all, about 30 homes were destroyed and more than 200 damaged.

"It's just difficult to grasp how powerful this storm was," Gov. James E. Doyle said after touring the area by helicopter.

Mr. Doyle declared a state of emergency on Friday in Dane and Richland Counties, the two hardest hit, and offered emergency assistance and temporary shelter.

In Stoughton, a tornado left a path 12 miles long and half a mile wide. Preliminary reports suggested that winds reached more than 200 miles an hour. The storm was so strong that roof shingles, papers and other debris were found in the Milwaukee area, 60 miles away.

Phil and Becky Daugherty said they crammed into a closet under their staircase as the tornado came through their neighborhood. When they emerged, "everything was gone," Becky Daugherty said.

The seven houses across the street lost their roofs. "And the next couple of streets over are just destroyed," Phil Daugherty said.

Residents in the hardest-hit areas had to get authorization to return to their homes on Friday morning.

One of the most devastated areas was a neighborhood of new homes lining the Stoughton Country Club. Some houses still standing on Friday had lost their roofs; others were reduced to piles of debris.

The storms also caused extensive damage in Viola, about 80 miles northwest of Madison. Trees were sheared off and more than 100 houses were damaged.
 
 

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