Power Outage in Portage, WI

A shed partially damaged and power lines down.

Large tree limb down on power line off of County Highway V.

Westerly wind gusts up to 45 mph. Scattered tree limbs down and some power outages.

Several trees and power lines down.

Trees and power lines down across Traut Road.

Several trees and power lines down south of Portage.

The Columbia County 911 Call Center reported approximately 100 trees were blown down, many power lines downed and scattered clusters of damage along a 17 mile-wide path from 5 miles southwest of Portage to Columbus from damaging thunderstorm wind gusts that were estimated up to 80 mph. A trained spotter recrded a 71 mph wind gust in Pardeeville. The roof was blown off a home and a garage was destroyed in Fall River. A home was destroyed and 2 houses damaged in the Town of Dakorra. Heavy rain accompanying the storms, with 1.58 inches measured in 45 minutes 3 miles east of Poynette, produced street flooding in Portage and Pardeeville.

Law enforcement officials reported trees and power lines were blown down by damaging thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 56 knots (65 mph) in an 8-mile wide swath from Harmony Grove to 5 miles east-southeast of Arlington.

A trained spotter reported trees and power lines blown down by thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 70 mph (61 knots) along a path from the Wisconsin Dells to Portage.

Powerful thunderstorm wind gusts toppled several large trees and broke branches that brought down some power-lines.

Powerful thunderstorm winds knocked down large trees and power-lines.

A long-tracked, partially rain-wrapped, tornado traveled through mostly rural areas of Columbia County and affected only a small portion of one village; otherwise property damage would have been more extensive. This tornado spun up about 2.75 miles east of Dekorra, just northwest of the intersection of STH 51 and CTH VJ, near Columbia Lake. It then tracked east-northeast through the far southeast reaches of the village of Wyocena, and crossed STH 22 just north of Patchin Road. It then moved through the intersection of CTH G and W. Hill Road, where the last structural damage to a couple barns and home occurred. Thereafter, this tornado tracked more northeast through rural areas (crossing STH 33 midway between Cunningham Road and Englehart Road), and eventually exited Columbia County just east of North County Line Road and Sterk Road. It continued for a few more miles through southeastern Green Lake County. Based on ground damage evidence, this tornado briefly lifted a couple times when it was north of STH 33. Most of the structural damage occurred south and southeast of Wyocena. Otherwise the rural damage consisted of uprooted trees or broken branches. At least two trained spotters video taped the tornado.||The Columbia County Emergency Management situation report indicated that 4 residential homes sustained minor damage, and 1 home suffered major damage. Additionally, 2 farm buildings had minor damage, 2 suffered major damage, and 3 were destroyed. The report estimated that private sector damage totaled about $550,000 (excluding electrical line damage). Public sector debris clearance totaled $3500, and protective measures totaled $1000. The Sheriff's Office had to close down 4 roads until power lines and trees could be cleared. Electrical line replacement is estimated at about $50,000. The lat-long pairs of numbers for this tornado segment in Columbia County include: N43.46179/W89.41637, N43.49223/W89.27809, N43.54813/W89.18491, and N43.63221/W89.06693. On the EF-scale, DI #1 (SBO) was used with a DOD of 6, for an EF-rating of EF1 and an wind estimate of about 100 mph (87 knots).

Strong southeast wake-low winds gusting to 43 knots (49 mph) resulted in scattered reports of broken tree branches damaging power-lines.

Powerful thunderstorm wind gusts to 56 knots (65 mph) toppled many trees and damaged several power-lines.

Powerful downburst thundestorm winds gusting to around 52 knots (60 mph) toppled large trees. A couple power-lines came down with tree debris.

Trees and power-lines reported down.

Trees toppled and some power-lines downed.

This tornado segment is a third, county-segment, continuation of a tornado that initially spun up in far northwestern Columbia County about 3.0 miles east of Wisconsin Dells at 1754CST and then crossed into Sauk County about 1.5 miles southeast of Lewiston at 1813CST. This tornado re-entered Columbia County about 7.0 miles west of Portage at 1817CST where Levee Rd. on the south side of the Wisconsin River exits Columbia County going west. The heading of this tornado was southeast, and it crossed Interstate 90/94 near Tritz Road where a vehicle swerved and caused a semitrailer to roll onto its side. It eventually passed through a residential trailer complex/camp ground south of the Cascade Ski Resort. It crossed Interstate 90/94 where Ziehmke Rd approached the Interstate from the east. At this point, the tornado caused a semitrailer to be blown off the road. The tornado then tracked over the extreme eastern edge of Pickerel Lake, crossed over the Wisconsin River for the second time, and dissipated about 1.0 mile southwest of Dekorra at 1840CST, just short of CTH V. Around 10 houses were damaged, along with a barn, a couple pole sheds, and many trees and power lines. The tornado caused about 600,000 dollars in property damage, and was rated F1 with winds of 64-97 knots (73-112 mph). The tornado was well-photographed and filmed. Overall, this F1 Columbia-Sauk-Columbia County tornado path length was 16.9 miles with a beginning time of 1754CST and an ending time of 1840CST.

This tornado was a continuation of the "Leland" F2 Sauk County tornado that passed through the Badger Ammunition Plant grounds. It crossed into Columbia County from Sauk County at 1655CST about 5.4 miles west of Okee, or 1.2 miles northwest of the intersection of Gastrow Road and STH 188. This tornado headed east-southeast for 3.4 miles, while weakening, and ended at 1703CST about 3.2 miles southeast of Okee, or 0.2 mile southeast of the intersection of CTH J and Occonor Road. Some tree, power-line, and crop damage was noted, resulting in a F1 damage rating in Columbia County. Average path width was about 125 yards.