STORM UPDATE: Price County recovers

PHILLIPS — The early morning storm, with thunder and high winds was expected but it was more than anticipated with extensive tree and property damage in the Phillips area.

There were approximately 262 customers that lost power along County Road W, according to Chris Ouellette, senior media relations representative for Xcel Energy, Inc. Of that number there were around 68 customers without power by late afternoon, with the expectation they would have service restored by that evening.

“There were lots of branches and trees down on power lines,: Ouellette said. “It was tough getting in there to clear them out due to wet ground as well.”

There were also reports of residents without power in the County Road F area that is served by Price Electric Cooperative.

The Phillips area seemed to get the worst of it, in terms of storm wind damage in northern Wisconsin, according to Ketzel Levens, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Duluth. Early reports indicate that stronger winds produced extensive tree damage and continued damaging areas east of Phillips all the way to Green Bay.

“We'll continue to be analyzing those through the next couple of days,” she said. “The hardest hit area for that wind damage that we've seen has really been in the Price County area and then further downstream.”

The northern portions of Price County were forecasted to see severe weather that could produce strong, damaging winds of 60 to 75 mph, she said. But further south in the county there was a higher likelihood of damaging winds in excess of 75 mph with damaging gusts.

“There was a forecasted concern for those damaging winds anywhere from 60 to 75 miles per hour or greater,” she said. “That's roughly what we saw happen last night as those storms moved through late evening into the very early morning hours. We saw some straight-line wind damage that did occur and we still have reports that are coming in yet this morning.”

The Price County Sheriff’s Office reported there were 35 weather related calls during and immediately after the storm.

There were 12 calls in Phillips for downed power lines and trees on County Road D and Park Drive, trees on house, and downed power lines on Victoria Street, North and South Lake Avenue, North and South Avon Avenue, Pine Ridge Road, County Road F, Kimball Street, Pine Ridge Road and Trinity Drive, and a restaurant roof ripped off the structure on North Lake Avenue.

Phillips residents and county crews were out cutting up dozens of large trees that fell on Old 13 Road in Phillips, as were local crews on streets all over the city. The chain saws could be heard clearing roads soon after the rapidly moving storm moved through by 2 a.m.

“The city had a lot of trees down,” said Phillips Chief of Police Michael Hauschild. “There were no injuries related to the storm…but there is lots of clean up.”

Burgers Bar and Grill had the rear portion of the roof torn off from the high winds. The restaurant roof was blown off once before during the Blow Down storm of 1977.

The restaurant owner, Ricardo Luna Vecchio, said he and his brother Jay were in their second-floor apartment next door when they realized the storm was getting very severe.

“The windows were heaving,” he said. “I opened them a crack to keep them from breaking.”

The noise from the downpour was incredible, he said. The thunder was deafening.

Then it all seemed to stop fairly quickly. It was then that he said Jay saw the roof damage.

They went to assess the damage and saw that it was the roof over the kitchen that peeled off the building and flopped over on the side facing the A&W Restaurant next door, which had no damage. The water that came into the building caused parts of the kitchen ceiling to collapse and streams of water were coming into the bar area.

Over the next day or two the plan is to get tarps over the roofless area before the predicted rain later this week. Once the insurance has done their inspection and the funds are available the plan will be to get up and running again in between 30 and 90 days.

The restaurant and bar will need carpeting and ceiling work, he said. The kitchen will need a total renovation.

There were 11 calls in nearby Worcester including a downed power line and fire on State Highway 13, and another downed power line on South Worcester Road and Springs Drive. There were two calls for trees blocking roadways on Old 13 Road, and two more for State Highway 13 at Maple Grove Road and at State Highway 111. Multiple trees were reported down on Dama Road and Woodlawn Road, Hilly Haven Lane, East Solberg Lake Road and County Road D and Big Elk Road.

There were four calls in Elk. One was for a downed power line on South Minnow Lake Road, and another for trees on a power line on Flemings Rapids Road. Another call was for trees on County Road S, and for several trees down on Long Lake Road.

There were three calls in Prentice, including two for trees blocking roadways on U.S. 8 at Miller Road, and U.S. 8 at Lound Road. Another call was for a tree in the roadway on U.S. 8 at State Highway 13.

There were two calls in the town of Spirit. Once call was for a residence that lost power where there was an individual on oxygen. Another call was for multiple trees down on State Highway 86 at Jacobson Road.

There was one call to Ogema for a downed power line and on fire on Prentice Road.

There was one call to Eisenstein for a tree on City Wells Road.

There was one call to the town of Catawba for a washed out culvert on State Highway 111. Town of Catawba Board Chair Jeff Hoogland said there was some water still running over the road, but was mostly drained off by 10 a.m.

“There are single lane washouts on a couple gravel roads, but grading and adding some gravel should take care of the damage, so it’s mostly a minor inconvenience,” Hoogland said.

Price County Highway Department temporarily closed State Highway 111 to through traffic in the town of Harmony, approximately 1 mile north of the Needle Creek Bridge to U.S. 8 due to washouts. The road was open again by 3:30 p.m.

Even where there were no calls to first responders there was damage.

Emery Town Board Chair Dale Houdek said there were trees down on Musser Drive and elsewhere.

“The farther east we traveled, the less damage we found,” Houdek said. “There were only a couple of trees down in the (Chequamegon–Nicolet) National Forest. There seemed to be a line from west Cherry Road, northeast through Musser Road that had damage, and then subsided after that. The yards were relatively clean out here.”

Town of Fifield crews are still patrolling but the damage looks to be manageable and corrected with grading, according to town clerk and treasurer Crystal Cowling.

“There is a washout on Sailor Lake Road, but I believe the Federal (U.S. Forest Service) is responsible for repairing that,” she said.

There were some hills washed out on Liberty Lane in the town of Georgetown, according to Town Board Chair Ginny Strobl. Town Supervisor LeRoy Lallemont was working to repair the damage.

“LeRoy's been working on it this morning and has more to do tomorrow,” Stroble said.

Village of Prentice clerk-treasurer Laurie Andreae said it is still early but so far there are no reports of serious damage.

“There are a few power lines down that we got called out for last night,” Andreae said. “Our (municipal) golf course was closed for a couple days, we’ve got a lot of water.”

Park Falls Chief of Police Marvin Nevelier said the city was fortunate in that the night shift reported only heavy rain. There were over 40 calls in the Phillips area which included downed trees and a roof that was torn off a business.