Confirmed EF-1 tornado rips roof off Village Bar Supper Club in Kieler

KIELER, Wis. - The National Weather Service confirmed an EF1 tornado hit for no more than a minute and a half in the Grant County area Monday night, but in that time it ripped the roof off the Village Bar Supper Club in Kieler that's stood in the community for 100 years.

According to owner Kurt Thumser, roughly 20 customers and staff were in the bar when the storm hit, though no one was injured.

Thumser attested that it happened so quickly, and seemed to only impact that area of Keiler, just off County H, the hardest. Next door to the Village is a home Thumser was renting out to tenants of three years that had the roof destroyed.

"No other houses or anything that I know of got damaged, maybe a window broke or something like that, but nothing of this caliber," Thumser said.

Among those inside were Thumser's granddaughter Carly Breiner, Samantha Snyder and Adyson Droessler, who work the bar and live in the rooms above.

"What was going through my mind is, I thought I was going to die," Breiner who was bartending Monday evening said.

"I looked at Carly and everyone stood up and we were just all staring at each other," Droessler said. "And then eventually the window broke and me and Carly immediately ran to the kitchen, down to the basement, and as we were running, I could see pieces of glass flying at us. And luckily we didn't get cut."

Meanwhile Snyder had a longer journey. "So I was getting out of the shower and then when it got really loud and shaky, like just it was so much adrenaline, I can't remember exactly," she said. "My dog was upstairs, so I grabbed her."

Breiner had just moved in a week ago and unpacked her last box the day before the tornado. Droessler had moved in not long before her.

All three said they have places to relocate to, through family.

Thumser said he doesn't even have a rough idea of the cost of damages yet, they're still waiting for the insurance company to estimate that, before they can think about reopening. But the rest of his family remain optimistic.

"We're hoping, that's all we can do," he said.

It's fitting the 100-year-old building he's owned since 2001 is called "Village," because Thumser said it's taken a village, the community, to help them get back on their feet.

"You need somebody, they're there," he said. "We really appreciate everybody in the community that came out and helped and called and offered and everything, to help out...We're in pretty good shape, a lot because of the community."

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