You will likely hear the sounds of gassed-up chainsaws and restarted air conditioners as Door County residents clean up after Saturday’s storms.
Door County Emergency Management Director Jeb Saelens says dispatch received more than 700 calls during the storm, far and away the busiest day in its recorded history. Many of the calls were related to downed trees and power lines, some of which sometimes made the peninsula’s main arteries, State Highway 42 and State Highway 57, impassable. The storm also forced the evacuation of two tourist spots that remain closed as of Monday to allow crews to clean up. Near Baileys Harbor, more than 20 people visiting Cana Island were stranded for several hours while crews cut through downed trees to get to them. They were eventually able to leave after 11 p.m. on Saturday. Still, the Door County Maritime Museum and the Door County Parks Department closed the site on Sunday until further notice to allow crews to clean up the area and repair the damaged interpretive center.
Picture courtesy of Bethany George
Further north, Newport State Park remains closed after about 10 visitors and four dogs had to be evacuated due to impassable trails. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says hundreds of downed trees covering trails and campsites required them to close several portions of the park until further notice as they try to assess the damage. Saelens says he was proud of the work emergency responders did throughout the storm surge, from the people in the dispatch center taking phone calls to firefighters and law enforcement officers locating people and closing off roads.
With waterspouts reportedly seen near Egg Harbor, Ephraim, and Death’s Door, Saelens says the county is working with the National Weather Service to see if they turned into tornadoes that touched on land in or near those communities. As of 9:30 a.m., just over 360 Wisconsin Public Service customers were without power, down from the approximately 9,000 customers that had their power knocked out by the storms shortly after they came through the area.
