Power Outage in Wisconsin Dells, WI

Law enforcement officials reported many trees and power lines downed by powerful thunderstorm wind gusts, estimated up to 75 mph (65 knots) in the Wisconsin Dells. Four cars were also damaged, with overall property damages estimated to be $30,000 dollars.

The river at the gage in Portage was in flood from the evening of September 24th through the morning of September 30th, and reached a record flood level of 20.66 feet during the evening of Monday, September 27th. The old record crest at Portage was 20.50 feet on 09/14/1938. The flood waters threatened to break through a century-old earthen dike in the Civil Township of Caledonia. The waters seeped through the dike, but the dike did not fail. The potential levee failures caused voluntary evacuations and road closures along the river from the Dells to Portage. As it turned out, dozens of homes in the Blackhawk Park area just southeast of Portage were cut off when water depths reached a foot on the only road into the area. The Columbia County Emergency Management Director provided the following loss estimates: $1 M for seasonal and full-time residental homes, $100,000 for patching and reinforcing part of a 14-mile earthen berm/dike, $50,000 for gravel shoulder washouts, $75,000 to a wastwater treatment plant, and $200,000 to bottomland crops. It was postulated that damage was limited due to the fact that the flood waters rose slowly which reduced the erosional power of water. The EM Director also noted that the Wisconsin River levels in Portage were about a foot higher than that experienced in the Great Flood of 1993, while at Wisconsin Dells the 2010 level was about a foot lower than that experienced in 1993.

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 winds knocked down large trees and power-lines, and also knocked over a temporary canopy.

Powerful thunderstorm downburst winds gusting to an estimated 65 knots (75 mph) toppled several large trees. Tree branch debris knocked down some power lines. The winds lifted one side of a trained spotters's vehicle about 6 inches into the air.

Powerful thunderstorm wind gusts to around 52 knots (60 mph) toppled saeveral large trees and a power-pole/power-line.

The first segment of a multi-county-segmented tornado spun up 3.0 miles east of Wisconsin Dells at 1754CST about 0.6 mile east-northeast of the intersection of Broadway Rd. and CTH Q. It headed southeast and crossed STH 16 at Lewiston, and then crossed the Wisconsin River into Sauk County about 1.5 miles southeast of Lewiston at 1813CST. In this first Columbia County stretch, around 10 houses were damaged or destroyed, along with a couple pole sheds and many trees and power lines. An estimated 400,000 dollars in property damage occurred. The tornado was rated F1 with winds of 64 to 97 knots (73-112 mph). After a short track through Sauk County, this tornado re-entered Columbia County about 7 miles west of Portage, crossed Interstate 90/94, and then crossed the Wisconsin River again before dissipating at 1840CST.