Oconto Falls Municipal Utilities workers have been assisting the crews of Menasha Utilities after a devastating EF-3 tornado swept through the city at the end of July, helping to restore electricity for more than 80% of area customers in the week that followed.
“This level of destruction is hard to see, especially when it happens so close to home,” said Beth Rank, utility manager of Oconto Falls Municipal Utilities. “I think any one of us would say we were more than ready to go and help the Menasha crews get those lights back on.”
After the tornado hit a central part of the community, Gov. Tony Evers declared the area in a state of emergency. Debris continued to hamper restoration efforts as crews arriving through mutual aid started to make progress repairing and restoring the electricity infrastructure. Roads were unpassable as more than 60 power line poles snapped in half, electric wires, tree limbs and materials from damaged homes and buildings needed to be cleared before crews could assess the extent of the damage and begin to restore power.
Mutual aid crews from neighboring utilities hopped in trucks and made their way to the area. It began with a few, then grew to more than a dozen as crews began to set down new poles. Power began to come back on for some customers.
A week after the tornado hit, there were roughly 80 line workers from more than two dozen public power communities who had been contributing their help with restoration. And the hard work could be seen, as power was restored to 90% of the area and to 80% of Menasha Utilities customers.
Cleanup is still expected to take weeks. Long-term damage will mean months of work. The city’s water filtration treatment plant was severely damaged and will take some time to either be fixed or replaced.
Menasha Utilities staff continue to be in good spirits, despite the devastation, and the whole community has been supportive by providing resources to those who may have lost their home or need water or food. The staff has also been coordinating support for visiting line crews as they spend days in the field to help restore power for Menasha residents.
“We are beyond grateful to have our public power partners here to help make sense of the damage and what immediately needed to be done, in addition to what still needs to be done here,” said Menasha Utilities general manager Melanie Krause. “We can’t say thank you enough to all those who have responded and continue to support us.”
