'We're actually blessed:' Residents of Waupun clean up, relieved nobody was hurt in dangerous storms

WAUPUN -- The storm damage in Fond du Lac County is widespread. It is one of three counties impacted by tornado warnings Tuesday, Aug. 28, and the National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touched down in the county, near Alto -- an EF1.

The sound of chainsaws roared throughout Campbellsport Wednesday. The storm cleanup started early at Tiki Beach Resort on Kettle Moraine Lake. The severe weather sent a tree into a children's play area. Water also submerged the beach and tossed around equipment.

"The whole beach was covered. You couldn't even see the sand. It was just a big stream down there," said Cory Haring.

In Waupun, first responders got constant calls from residents. A state of emergency was declared in the city.

"Lots and lots of old trees that have been victim to the storm (Tuesday)," said Kathy Schlieve of the City of Waupun.

At one point, a curfew was put in place for safety.

"We needed to create a condition where we did not have lots of people coming in and trying to just look at what was going on," Schlieve said.

We found piles of debris lining the streets. Cleanup was an all-day effort for countless families.

Bobby Kunz said he sees the silver lining.

"We're actually blessed. Nobody lost their lives. Nobody was injured," Kunz said.

It could take a long time to return to normal, but we found neighbors  on a quest to help each other out.

"Stay strong. We're always there to help people," Kunz said.

On Wednesday, the high school football team was out lending a hand to those who needed it.

In an update, City of Waupun officials said on Wednesday evening crews from six different electric utilities joined Waupun Public Utilities' staff to repair lines in the city, and they made "significant progress" repairing the lines. They were then working to address individual outages -- visiting homes without power to assess the issues and make repairs.  Crews were expected to work until dusk on Wednesday and then return at daybreak Thursday. Residents who are without power are reminded to contact Waupun Public Utilities at 920-324-7920 to report their outage.

Several road closures within the city remained in place as of Wednesday evening, due to localized flooding and repairs.

A shelter was opened at Brandon Elementary School on West Bowen Street Tuesday.

The other two confirmed tornado touchdowns Tuesday happened in Brownsville in Dodge County (an EF1) and in the Town of Wilson in Sheboygan County.