Down on the farm

Ran on Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Down on the farm

MENOMONIE — A 100-year-old barn one mile east of Menomonie fell victim to a storm that blew through the area Monday night.

It was one of at least a dozen barns blown down in Dunn and St. Croix counties. The storm also damaged several homes, knocked out power to thousands — some until Thursday — felled trees and dropped much-needed rain on dry crops.

The Menomonie barn, at the home of Byron Barnhart, E5891 571st Ave., collapsed when north winds hit, said his son, Larry Barnhart, who lives adjacent to his father.

"It was straight wind," Larry Barnhart said. "Everything was laying to the south."

Larry Barnhart said he lost five trees at his home, and his father lost a couple of trees.

When the barn collapsed it sounded like "very large, deep thunder without the lightning strike," Larry Barnhart said. "With the next lightning strike we could see it was down and flat as flat."

The Barnharts' 36-by-88-foot barn was used mostly for storage.

Xcel Energy said 20,000 west-central Wisconsin customers were out of power at the height of the storm.

As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, fewer than 9,000 customers remained without power.

The hardest hit areas, according to Xcel, include Menomonie, Durand,Amery, Somerset, Hudson, La Crosse and Sparta.

Some parts of Menomonie and Durand weren't expected to have power restored until late Thursday night, according to Xcel Energy.

Eau Claire Energy Cooperative said more than 250 of its 10,000 customers lost power, starting about 11 p.m. Monday night. All but one customer had power restored by 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Dunn County

Numerous trees were reported downed in the city and throughout the county, according to Dunn County Emergency Management Coordinator Bruce Brantner.

The east side of Menomonie seemed to get the brunt of the storm. Trees were down throughout the city's industrial park and near the Dunn County Judicial Center, near U.S. 12 and Stokke Parkway.

Power was out at the Judicial Center until about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. Courts continued, and offices were open with backup generators to light the building and to operate the 911 system.

The Red Cedar Medical Center operated with emergency backup generators from about 10:50 p.m. Monday until 8:15 a.m. Tuesday because of power outages.

Half the campus at UW-Stout in Menomonie didn't have power from 10:30 p.m. Monday until 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Bob Schultz, an account manager at Xcel, said the UW-Stout administration buildings and computer management buildings were among the powerless ones. Some dorms and academic buildings also lost power.

The Dunn County Government Center, Human Services Department and Judicial Center also lost power but had it restored Tuesday.

This is the worst power outage County Attorney Scott Cox can remember in his 15 years with the county.

"It is unusual for the power grid to be down this long, but we are coping," he said. "The backup generator has helped us to keep operating. We were fortunate it could have been worse."

According to Menomonie police reports, power poles were down near the Dunn County Recreation Park and along Interstate 94 between exit 41 and 45.

A semitrailer truck was blown off the interstate, lying on the shoulder Tuesday.

Other roads that had multiple trees down included Cedar Falls Road, Dairyland Road, Stokke Parkway, Badger Road, Stout Road and Wilson Avenue East, Street Department Supervisor Bruce Heath said.

A couple of street light poles went down near U.S. 12 by the Dunn County Health Care Center and Andersen Windows.

"We believe it was high winds," Heath said. "There were no funnel clouds reported."

At the Menomonie airport, the winds flipped over plane, Heath said.

Downtown Menomonie did not have traffic lights Tuesday because of the power outages.

Portable generators were being used Tuesday to power the sanitary lift stations in northern and eastern parts of the city. The lift stations bring sewage to the wastewater treatment plant.

Brantner said no injuries were reported.

"Any time we can make it through damaging weather with no people injured or any deaths, we've been lucky," Brantner said.

St. Croix County

Cleanup began Tuesday after the storm flattened 11 barns and damaged dozens of homes near New Richmond, Emerald and Star Prairie.

No injuries were reported, St. Croix County Sheriff's Department Capt. Mike Winberg said.

"It sounds like lots of straight-line wind damage," he said. "There was one home that looked like it went down. Roads are blocked. Driveways are blocked."

The National Weather Service said initial reports from Monday night's storms indicated a roof blown off an airport hangar and extensive damage to some houses and barns in the area.

Near Emerald, on Highway G, the wind knocked down a large Emerald Dairy free-stall barn, trees and power lines and flattened corn in some fields.

Powers can be reached at 715-235-9018 or pamela.powers@ecpc.com. Staff reporter Keighla Schmidt, The Country Today and The Associated Press contributed to this story.