IN 23 PHOTOS: WEST END TORNADO DAMAGE
Twin concurrent EF-1 tornados struck Walworth County at 8:22 p.m. on Saturday, June 22, cutting a swath of destruction through the West End in Fontana, Geneva, hard-hit Williams Bay, and Delavan.
A state of emergency has been declared in the Village of Williams Bay until July 1, unless otherwise extended by the village board trustees.
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Williams Bay Department of Public Works crews clear storm debris at Edgewater Park in downtown Williams Bay on Monday, June 24.
Edgewater Park tornado damage
Williams Bay Department of Public Works crews clear tornado debris at Edgewater Park in downtown Williams Bay on Monday, June 24.
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Williams Bay Department of Public Works crews clean storm damage and lakefront Edgewater Park in downtown Williams Bay on Monday, June 24.
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A tornado-snapped power pole along Theatre Road in Williams Bay.
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As of Monday, June 24, some parts of Theatre Road in Williams Bay remained closed to through traffic as utility crews work to repair tornado-damaged electrical infrastructure.
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A tornado-downed power pole along Theatre Road in Williams Bay at the storm-damaged Bailey Estates subdivision.
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A tornado-flipped portable toilet in the Bailey Estates subdivision in Williams Bay.
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Debris from damaged and downed trees in the wake of a June 22 EF-1 tornado litters the parking lot at the Williams Bay Lions Club Fieldhouse, 270 Elkhorn Rd. (State Hwy. 67).
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An emergency response plan activation by Williams Bay Village Administrator David Lothspeich and Williams Bay Police Chief and Emergency Management Director Justin P. Timm in the wake of a June 22 EF-1 tornado spurred the dispatch of the Walworth County Sheriff's Office Mobile Command Unit to the village to coordinate mutual aid response by numerous mutual aid emergency response agencies.
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A tornado-downed sign at the Theatre Road main entrance to the Bailey Estates subdividion in Williams Bay.
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A tornado-shredded tree in the parking lot at the Williams Bay Lions Club Fieldhouse, 270 Elkhorn Rd. (State Hwy. 67).
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Broken windows are covered in plywood and damaged roofs are tarped after an EF-1 tornado passed through a portion of the Bailey Estates subdivision off Theatre Road in Williams Bay.
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Tornado-snapped power poles lie discarded by utility crews in the village-owned park on Theatre Road.,
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In the wake of a Saturday, June 22 EF-1 tornado, large-scale electrical utility repair and replacement work by Alliant Energy continued Monday, June 24 along Theatre Road in Williams Bay.
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Post-tornado clean-up continued Monday, June 24 in the Town of Geneva near Bublitz Road along State Hwy. 50. The June 22 twister, which set down in Fontana near Abbey Springs, traveled across Geneva Lake before jumping Hwy. 50 and lifting up shortly before Lake Como.
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Grandview Avenue in Williams Bay was closed to traffic after a June 22 tornado toppled this precariously-leaning tree. A number of West End streets and roads were closed in the wake of the EF-1 tornado, which downed scores of limbs, trees and power lines.
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A tree toppled by tornado-associated straightline winds crushes the roof of the former golf course clubhouse on the campus of the now-closed George Williams College in Williams Bay.
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A tornado-toppled tree along North Lakeshore Drive crushed this road sign near the main entrance to the former George Williams College campus in Williams Bay.
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A fallen oak lies just short of the sign for the former George Williams College of Aurora University at the corner of West Geneva Street (State Hwy. 67) and North Lakeshore Drive in Williams Bay.
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With its 105 miles per hour winds, the EF-1 tornado that tore through hard-hit Williams Bay on June 23 mangled the outfield fence at Lions Athletic Field No. 1 on the Williams Bay Lions Club Fieldhouse campus at 270 Elkhorn Rd. (State Hwy. 67).
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The June 23 EF-1 tornado that struck Williams Bay tore award half the scoreboard at Lions Athletic Field No. 1 on the Williams Bay Lions Club Fieldhouse campus, 270 Elkhorn Rd. (State Hwy. 67).
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The mangled remains of one of many tornado-damaged trees on the Williams Bay Lions Club Fieldhouse campus, 270 Elkhorn Rd. (State Hwy. 67).
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A tornado- uprooted tree lies next to the footbridge over Southwick Creek adjacent to the main entrance to Kishwauketoe Nature Conservancy, 251 Elkhorn Rd. (State Hwy. 67), Williams Bay.
Eric Johnson
Reporter
Two EF-1 tornados struck concurrently in several West End communities at 8:22 p.m. on Saturday night, with clean-up and restoration work ongoing. Hardest hit was the Village of Williams Bay, where a state of emergency has been declared.
On June 25 at 6:37 p.m., the Williams Bay-based Geneva Lake Environmental Agency issued advisories for Williams Bay Beach-West End and Swim Piers, as well as Linn Pier Beach, in its latest weekly water quality sampling report for public beaches around Geneva Lake.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reminds boaters to help stop the spread of invasive plants and animals in our waters as part of the June 26-July 6 Great Lakes Landing Blitz.
Following multiple reports of people harvesting cicadas at Big Foot Beach State Park in Walworth County, the Wisconsin Department of Natural R…
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) urges ATV/UTV riders to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday responsibly, ride sober and k…
Gov. Tony Evers on June 28 signed Executive Order #232, declaring a state of emergency throughout the state of Wisconsin following strong June 21-25 storms that produced damaging tornadoes, high winds, and flooding across the state.
The Williams Bay Municipal Court will be dissolved following a split 6-1 July 1 vote abolishing the court.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced July 3 that it is now accepting applications for Wisconsin Urban Forestry Catastrophic Storm Grants.
A68-year-old Walworth County man is dead following a July 2 home explosion on Kulow Road in rural Lafayette, between Elkhorn and East Troy. The only occupant of the structure was later identified as Leland R. Holden, who was located in the rubble by firefighters and transported by Flight for Life to a local trauma center, where he later died.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) encourages private well owners to consider testing their drinking water after significant rainfall and flooding. Heavy rains and flooding can impact drinking water quality.
The Williams Bay Village Board on Sept. 3 approved waste hauler GFL Solid Waste Midwest, LLC's required implementation and communication plan around pending service changes in the wake of GFL's December 2023 purchase of incumbent provider Nieuwenhuis Brothers Disposal Services, Inc.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on Oct. 4 announced the recipients of the Urban Forestry Catastrophic Storm Grants to assist with damage sustained during statewide extreme storm events that took place June 21-25, 2024. In Walworth County, grant recipients were the Town of Delavan, Village of Williams Bay and the Friends of Kishwauketoe Nature Conservancy.
The Village of Williams Bay made its first shovel-in-the-ground step toward post-tornado recovery on Oct. 11 with the planting of approximately 15 trees at Carlson Park and the the Williams Bay Beach House with the assistance of numerous community volunteers, including seven Williams Bay High School students.
