Tornadoes leveled their Dodge County homes and businesses. Now, they have to pick up the pieces

Yahoo

16-05-2025

On May 16, Dodge County residents woke up to fallen trees, collapsed roofs and other significant property damage left by several tornadoes that touched down the previous evening.
Just hours later, neighbors, families and friends were working to clean up each other's homes, chipping away at everything from uprooted pine trees to stray construction debris. Their resilience drew praise from Gov. Tony Evers who visited the area May 16.
"While there is a lot of work and cleanup ahead, it is always extraordinary to see how Wisconsinites come together to support and help each other, especially in times of great need," Evers said in a post on X.
The tornadoes were spotted shortly before 6 p.m. on May 15 in Juneau, Horicon and Mayville and have left some people without homes, officials said May 16. Police in Mayville blocked off the area around Gleason Reel Corporation and Mayville Engineering company, both of which incurred significant damage.
In Horicon, Steve Kaiser said he was watching from a restaurant across the street as the tornado blew the roof off his mechanic shop, crushing his nearby dump truck, trailer and shed.
"It was something to see," he said. "The whole roof came up and over."
Like several other residents, Kaiser was waiting on the morning of May 16 for a claims adjuster from his insurance company to come and evaluate the property. In the meantime, he said the insurance company advised him to keep his shop's regular hours, and several of his friends and neighbors were helping clear felled trees.
Kaiser, who is otherwise retired, has worked on the property since 2000. In the immediate future, he said the damage shouldn't significantly affect his ability to run the shop.
"I call it my toybox," Kaiser said of the shop. "Just hope it'll be alright."
Mike Slade, another Horicon resident, was working with neighbors to clear a massive, fallen pine tree on his property Friday morning. During the storm, Slade was sheltering in his basement, while his wife remained upstairs with his son, who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly referred to as ALS.
Though he was working to clean up stray branches, Slade said the family hasn't created a plan to address the larger-scale damage in his yard.
"We really don't know what we're going to do yet," he said.
The tree also hit a power line and cut off power in his home from about 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. on May 16, Slade said. As of 12 p.m. May 16, nearly 600 Alliant Energy customers remained without power in Dodge County.
Next door, Slade's neighbor Billy Brandenburg was working to patch up a 4 foot by 8 foot hole in his roof. Brandenburg was out of town during the storm but drove back late on May 15 after his neighbor called to inform him of the damage, he said.
Friends and family were helping him clean up the property on Friday morning, including clearing the blown-away roof of another shed on his property. He said he's working with a contractor to patch up the roof hole but hopes insurance will eventually cover the cost.
"Nobody got hurt, so that's the good part," Brandenburg added. "All this is just material. It's fixable."
As of 9:30 a.m. May 16, Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt said one person in Juneau was transported to a hospital after a roof caved in, and two people have reported minor injuries. Otherwise, Schmidt said "we've had very little in the way of injury."
American Red Cross volunteers were also stationed at Dodgeland Schools and Mayville High School to aid displaced residents.
The Mayville outpost was open overnight and about nine people came in immediately after the storm for food and shelter, said Red Cross volunteer Tania Behselich. The organization is sending out an emergency vehicle on May 16 to distribute emergency kits with cleaning supplies, food and water for residents working to clear their property.
"We're going to be open until the last person needs us here," she said.
Scott Sabol, superintendent of the Mayville School District, said the district cancelled classes on May 15 in anticipation of the storm.
"That was a good decision," he said. "Little did we know what was actually about to happen."
Sabol said the residents trickling into the school have been "just a little rattled in the beginning," but otherwise alright — and the district plans to move forward with its planned high school graduation on May 18.
"It's going to be status quo for us," he added. "We're going to celebrate our students Sunday."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Mayville, Horicon residents clean up Dodge County tornado damage