NWS confirms Waukesha County tornado; damage, flooding widespread
Surveying storm damage in Waukesha County
FOX6's Abril Preciado and Bret Lemoine surveyed damage from severe weather in Waukesha County on Wednesday, April 15.
SUSSEX, Wis. - The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado hit the Lisbon-Sussex area during Tuesday night's severe storms, which also tore through other parts of Waukesha County and southeast Wisconsin.
Confirmed tornado
Local perspective:
The NWS said the EF2 touched down near Highway 164 and Good Hope in the town of Lisbon, just west of Sussex, shortly before 6:30 p.m.
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It had maximum wind speeds of 120 mph and was on the ground for six minutes, covering 3.2 miles. It lifted the roof off a building, destroyed a small outbuilding, caused other structural damage and snapped and uprooted trees.
"It's pretty impressive. Going across (Highway) 164 here, there's a bunch of commercial buildings – complete roofs that are gone, garage doors that are blown in," said Tim Halbach, an NWS meteorologist.
Lisbon-Sussex damage
What they're saying:
Lisbon Presbyterian Church is roughly a half-mile from where the NWS said the tornado touched down. The church's siding was ripped off, and members said a chimney collapsed through the roof.
"You open the door to the office area, the ceiling is on the table and there's debris all over the place," said church member Jami Vodicka. "Then you look up and you can see the sky, and everything is wet."
Tornado damages church in Lisbon, Wisconsin
Lisbon Presbyterian Church is roughly a half-mile from where a NWS said the tornado touched down. The church's siding was ripped off, and members said a chimney collapsed through the roof.
Across Highway 164, an industrial park was full of downed trees and rubble from damaged buildings.
"This is definitely a direct path of, you know, some tornado. I saw that was coming, but I was not expecting this kind of damage. It's apocalyptic," said Mike Swift, one of the impacted business owners.
Sussex storm damage as seen from SKYFOX
Check out video of tornado damage in Sussex as seen by SKYFOX
It was an all-hands-on-deck effort to clean up debris. While the damage was devastating, neighbors said they are grateful no one was hurt.
"God works in mysterious ways, so I really hope he has a plan for this craziness," said Vodicka.
Waukesha County
Big picture view:
FOX6 News also went to see the storm's aftermath in the village of Pewaukee. A parking lot along the Pewaukee River was underwater, a Kiwanis Park baseball field was flooded and storm drains in parking lots bubbled over.
One homeowner stood in amazement, looking at all the trees and retention walls that fell during the storm.
PHOTO GALLERY: Storm damage in Waukesha County
"The wind for sure. I imagine that all the rain softened the ground," said Trevor Argue. "When you get the soft ground and big trees, they are going to come down."
In Oconomowoc, crews took chainsaws to a large tree that nearly came down on a house.
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Muskego police reported rising water levels and three of its big lakes and said the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is monitoring the situation. The Fox River in Waukesha is also flooding the downtown riverwalk.
Waukesha County Emergency Management was out assessing the damage. They reminded people to avoid driving through flooded roads and to be cautious around storm debris, damaged buildings and downed power lines.
The county responded to 31 calls for downed trees or wires on Tuesday night. There were seven structure fires and six reports of "sinking vehicles."
The Source: FOX6 News went to areas of Waukesha County that experienced damage and referenced information from the National Weather Service, We Energies and FOX6 Weather Experts.