Nick Baker, whose father owns the barn, was home at the time but said he couldn’t even make it to the basement before the winds hit. Every building on the farm suffered damage, he said, including the barn, shed and house. Three silos came down.
Several motorists taking shelter from the storm were badly injured when this silo near Sharon fell onto their vehicles Friday.
Sharon Fire & Rescue
“We’re just finding pieces of neighbors’ buildings from three-quarters of a mile away,” Baker said.
When Baker and his family emerged from the house, they found the people who had taken shelter in their yard but had no idea who they were. The travelers were passing through from Chicago and simply “picked a bad spot to go” when they saw the storm coming, he said.
He doesn’t know anything else about their conditions but said their injuries appeared serious.
Debris from a fallen silo is scattered across a field after a powerful storm moved through Sharon Friday afternoon.
SHARON FIRE & RESCUE
In nearby Delavan Lake, power trucks with flashing lights navigated streets filled with branches, trunks and debris as residents stood outside their houses to watch the cleanup. Patrick Maguire and his daughter Ava, 9, carried towels as they walked from their home to the beach.
Maguire ran into the house from his Jeep Wagoneer on Friday afternoon shortly before two trees came down on the car, crushing it beyond repair. He heard the metallic crunch over the sound of his daughter screaming and crying, he said.
He lost power for about 24 hours, but it came back on Saturday afternoon.
Residents in the Como neighborhood won’t see electricity for a little longer. The area was pummeled by the storm, with downed trees, damaged roofs and blocked streets seemingly everywhere. The power grid was shut down to alleviate the risk of downed power lines causing injuries, residents said.
Penny Roehrer walks through her debris-ridden yard in Lake Geneva Saturday after assessing damage to her home, which had a tree fall on to during Friday’s storm.
OWEN ZILIAK,STATE JOURNAL
Como, in the town of Geneva, saw “massive damage,” with trees downed across almost every road in the subdivision, said Undersheriff Hausner at Friday’s press conference.