Power Outage in Sturtevant, WI

A swath of numerous power lines and tree branches down, and some roof damage. The width of damage was around 3 blocks.

An EF1 tornado that developed in far northern Kenosha County, northeast of Somers, entered Racine County near the intersection of County Highway KR (County Line Road) and 90th Street. After a path length of about 0.43 mile in Kenosha County, it crossed into Racine County where CTH EA (72nd Ave) intersects County Line Rd. The tornado moved northeast and dissipating in the northeast section of Graceland Cemetery on the west side of the City of Racine, about 500 feet west of Osborne Boulevard. In Racine County, the tornado blew a weakly anchored barn (built in the 1920s) off its foundation and damaged an industrial building south of STH 11. Later on, it tore off a 100'x200' roof section of the Case/New Holland building, damaged several HVAC units on the roof, and tore off some of the building's garage doors. The Case/New Holland plant was closed until Monday, November 1st while the roof was being repaired. Two workers in this plant were injured by the tornadoes effects. Additionally, a tractor and it's semi-trailer on the Case/New Holland site were blown over and damaged. wo other businesses on STH 11 reported roof damage. At least 3 homes sustained damage. State Highway 11 was closed for a time in eastern Racine County due to debris and fallen power lines, closing or disrupting business at stores along Highway 11, especially in the 7000 and 7100 blocks. At a church 2 miles northeast of the intersection of STH 11 and Oakes Rd., damage was inflicted to its roof, siding windows and a brick sign. Numerous trees and a few power lines were blown down or broken along the path of the tornado. At one point, about 2700 customers lost electrical power. There were reports of a couple vehicle accidents as drivers tried to avoid the tornado. The tornado path averaged 50 yards in width, with a maximum width of 100 yards. The EF-rating was based on DI 23 DOD 4 EXP103 with estimated wind speeds up to 105 mph. The exact start location in Racine County is Lat 42.66901 Lon -87.89515. The exact end location is Lat 42.72845 Lon -87.82596. The path of the tornado was not a straight line, rather, a rough curved line with an actual path length of 5.92 miles within Racine County. After crossing STH 11 about 1/10 of a mile east of North Branch Pike River, the tornado path bearing changed from NNE to NE. Property damage values are estimated.

Lightning struck an electrical power transformer, resulting in the loss of service to 700 customers and several stop lights in the area from Caladonia to Sturtevant.

A powerful macroburst moved northeast through the eastern half of Racine county and tore up hundreds of trees, blew over several semi-tractor trailers on Interstate-94 between STH 11 and 20, leveled a barn, detroyed another pole shed, riped the roof off a home, and toppled about 30 power-poles and 59 spans of wire. Additionally, there was wind damage to the Ives Grove Golf Course, the County Board chambers, a Sheriff's Department storage building, and a Public Works Department garage. About a half-dozen campers were overturned by the powerful winds. Several homes sustained tree debris damage. At least six other cars were significantly damaged by flying debris or fallen trees. Monetary damage to the power-poles and power-lines was on the order of $90,000 alone. Newspaper reports mentioned that the damaged swath looked like a war-zone. The width of the damage swath was on the order of 3 to 5 miles. Based on the structural damage it is that estimated peak wind gusts were probably on the order of 87 knots (100 mph). Eyewitness accounts indicated that visibility was less than 10 yards due to the winds and rains.