APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – Gov. Tony Evers made a surprise visit to Appleton Tuesday afternoon, touring the trail of damage left behind by this past weekend’s severe storms.
The destruction from the storms was so intense, Evers has spent the past few days on the ground, touring the hardest-hit parts across the state.
Appleton is one of those areas that felt the storms’ wrath. Trees ripped right out of the ground, snapped power lines and street lights hanging by mere wires.
Monster storms, and the destructive path they cut through Appleton blew resident Susan Chandler away.
“I have never seen this many trees down!” she said. “We went through the cemetery the other day and just huge trees that are just down. The whole neighborhood…everybody has piles, and piles of sticks.”
Appleton traffic cameras show the storm roaring in fast and furious.
Tents at the Farm Market nearly shredded into pieces, and street lights were no match for the storms, forcing their way through Appleton, leaving what seems to be a never-ending cleanup in their wake.
Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna spoke to some crews dealing with the remnants storms left behind.
“They said, ‘You know, we’ve been at this for two days, and I feel like we didn’t even make a dent!’” Hanna said. “But then I go looking at the pile of stuff that we’ve hauled, and it’s huge already, and we’re just getting started.”
For Paula Scherer of Appleton, day one of the cleanups began Monday morning well into the evening.
“It feels like we did it all yesterday, and we came back and there was, even more, sticks on the ground, so we’re just trying to clear it out — again,” she said.
Tens of thousands lost power, and some still don’t have it back.
“It’s also important to kind of reassure people that people are working hard to make sure that their lives are back to normal,” Evers said.
Evers also says he’s amazed at the way communities have bounced back.
“There’s a lot of damage, a lot of anxiety but, when people come together, and pull together on issues like this, it shows me how important the spirit of Wisconsin is,” he said.
The governor says the state is trying to get a handle on the scope of the damage all over the state.
He says anyone with property damage should call 2-1-1 to report it.
