Part of the Evans Family X-Mas letter 2000. By Lorraine Evans, Valders
Have empathy for those hit by hail!
Manitowoc County ,
WI survived the storm of a century on May 12, 2000 . It is hard to believe a day that dawned so perfectly could so quickly deteriorate into a maelstrom of disastrous proportion.
The day dawned unseasonably warm under cloudless skies. The spring had been delightfully warm and perennials were set to produce waves of color as clusters of plants came into full bloom. The weather was still perfect as I began an appointment for a hair cut and perm. With only a few minutes left, a weather warning was suddenly issued on the radio. A severe storm was quickly approaching Valders from ten miles west. It was reportedly “traveling 50 miles an hour, with 60 mile an hour winds, large hail, and severe lightning.” I ran out the door at 11:45 AM . Blustery winds were whipping up a great deal of dust under darkening, gray skies. I was to start work at noon .
It didn’t take long for me to feel gripping fear clutch at my heart as I realized I probably made a mistake driving. Daylight died. I’ve seen more light at midnight during a new moon than what we had at that moment. (Some people said they could not see their hands in front of their face during the storm.) Of course I constantly monitored the storm through my rear view mirror and listened to urgently delivered weather reports on the radio. As blackness enveloped the entire area, the sky was lit up with nonstop lightning bolts. I began to meet emergency vehicles racing west. I prayed I could reach work before the storm caught me driving.
As I parked the car in Manitowoc , pouring rain was replaced by golf-sized hail horizontally pelting the city. Before the entrance door closed behind me, my boss said, “Your daughter just called and said all the west windows of your house have been blown out.” A call confirmed the family was ok, but we had sustained massive damage with shattered glass and hail blown across the width of the house. The sound of the hail pounding the Welnetz Studio was like the rumbling of vibrating sheet metal. For 8 minutes hail blasted to earth clogging the city sewer system. Flooding was eminent. I left for home at the first let up in the storm.
The midnight sky had lightened considerably. However, now I had to contend with dangerous, dense ground fog. Emergency vehicles passed me in whiteout conditions. The radio continued to broadcast reports of a possible tornado touchdown in St. Nazianz a mere five miles southwest of Valders. It “confirmed a report of a house with a west window blown out in Valders .” I wondered how they knew about my house. As I drove west, quick glances didn’t register any extensive property damage. (I was looking at the east side of buildings.) I was not prepared for the utter devastation I saw upon entering the village of Valders going in a southerly direction. Every building looked like a bomb had detonated nearby shattering all west windows, leaving torn draperies grotesquely glued to the plywood. Siding was either shredded or pockmarked and replaced with green debris. Trees that had been fully leafed out were now sorrowfully naked. The devastation was horrifying. Thank God my mother in law was like the Rock of Gibraltar that Mothers Day weekend and took it all in stride. Amber told me that during that 8 minute onslaught her Nana insisted upon standing in the stairwell doorway to see if the big picture window was going to shatter like the rest. This was a chance of a lifetime to see a hundred year storm in action. Bob, meanwhile, had his hands full at the 16 unit, two story elderly apartment complex we manage as all the windows there were lost on both the west and south sides.
In retrospect, St. Nazianz experienced a weather phenomenon known as a wind sheer containing a 100 mph downburst. It was not a tornado. (Too wide an area was affected.) Huge, old trees were blown over or twisted into ragged toothpicks. Forests were devastated across a nine mile wide strip over many miles between Lake Winnebago and Lake Michigan . The St. Nazianz trailer court was gone. Houses were completely moved off their foundations. Roofs were ripped off. The storm completely destroyed 50 barns in just Manitowoc County . The first crop hay was obliterated. In its wake, the storm left thousands of pounds of wood and metal debris scattered to the four winds over the length and breath of Manitowoc and Calumet County farm fields. (Actually, the storm had traveled across the entire width of Wisconsin that day, hitting Omro and Oshkosh just 45 minutes before it hit us. Too bad we weren’t given more of a warning!)
Huge, metal power lines fell. The steel towers crumpled like so much aluminum run over by a bulldozer. Cattle were scattered to the four winds and livestock continued to die for two weeks after being caught in the pounding hail. A turkey hunter was caught in the woods near St. Nazianz when the storm hit. He tried to hide behind the largest tree available, shielding his head from the baseball sized hailstones with his hands. He broke a wrist, but lived. The flock of turkeys he had been calling all died.
The rear window on Aaron’s car was shattered, along with both side mirrors and blinkers. (Insurance totaled it. We took a huge loss.) Cars were left with deep craters. Bob’s Driver Education, 2000 Escort had $7,000 damage. Bird feeders, trellises and everything plastic was broken. Insurance covered man made items, but nothing created by nature. Our “Better Homes and Gardens” backyard was devastated. Rhubarb was now a quarter inch high, squishy pulp. Young trees were almost girdled from the impact of the hailstones. Trees that temporarily survived the storm were later killed by bugs.
Our immediate concern was securing the house from the elements. We were luckier than most since we had storm windows with which we could replace the shattered window glass so we still had natural light. (Air conditioning was a blessing during the heat of summer. Many homes in the area were boarded up for many months. Local contractors were not able to provide for the thousands of households needing immediate help. Solicitations from fly by night contractors wanting to get a piece of the action abounded. A long time family friend, who is also a professional carpenter, came to our rescue or we would still be waiting too.
We continued to hear the wail of sirens all that weekend. Thick fog continued to be produced from piles of hailstones which didn’t appear to be melting. St. Nazianz was sealed off to ambulance chasers as it was in a state of emergency. Hoards of wonderful people descended upon the village however with power saws and free labor to help with evacuations and the massive clean-up. Valders High School students were released from a day of school to help in the clean-up effort. The Salvation Army and Red Cross provided food and fresh water for everyone. In August I was still cleaning glass up from my flower beds. Over the next few months we would hear stories of the hardships, devastation, and miracles those eight minutes produced. A young mother told me after she came downstairs from having had just placed her sleeping baby in its crib upstairs, she suddenly felt an uncontrollable urge to get her baby. As she reached the door to the hallway with the sleeping baby safely in her arms, the west and north windows shattered above the crib, splintering glass where her baby had been just moments before.
In spite of the havoc, devastation, and depression the storm produced, it also left a rainbow with a pot of gold. St. Nazianz is rebuilding. It is much lighter now without the huge, overgrown trees. Manitowoc County sports bright, contemporary new roofs, new siding, and new windows. Many people used this event as the catalyst to upgrade and remodel. Now, if it ever happens again, I hope it comes from the east. We could use new windows!
