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Rains drench area

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Rudy Wegner of JNB Signs of Janesville, uses a cutting torch to break down the giant 70-foot-tall Microtel Inn sign into smaller pieces to be taken away.

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Workers from JNB Signs of Janesville work to move a 70-foot-tall Microtel Inn sign that was blown over the strong winds brought by thunderstorms that swept through the city Thursday night. Area residents also reported trees down in the storms.

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

The wind ripped the 70-foot-tall Microtel Inn sign from the giant bolts that held it down at 3121 Wellington Place in Janesville.

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Photo by Al Hoch

Storm sewers in the 1300 block of Rockport Road in Janesville were overwhelmed early Friday morning as more than two inches of rain fell on the city in a series of thunderstorms.

How’d you like all that rain, wind and thunder?

Ready or not, here comes more.

The National Weather Service this morning said there’s a good chance of storms just as severe today and tonight.

Storms with strong winds ripped through southern Wisconsin on Thursday night, and downpours drenched the area this morning.

No injuries or major damage were reported in Rock County.

Wind felled a large sign at the Microtel Inn, 3121 Wellington Place, Janesville, on Thursday night.

Beloit’s Riverfest started shutting down around 7:30 p.m. Thursday night’s headliner, Seether, did not perform because of the danger from wet equipment, said Riverfest Executive Director Rod Beaudoin.

Riverfest is ready for tonight, however, when the headliner is REO Speedwagon, Beaudoin said.

Kristine Mikkelsen, a resident of Janesville’s Spruce Street, reported trees down on her street and on nearby Randolph Road, Wright Road and Morningside Drive.

Alliant Energy reported power outages in the Janesville and in Walworth County.

More than 2,000 customers lost power Thursday night in the Janesville area after lightning took out three substations, one in Milton and two in Janesville, said Scott Reigstad, Alliant Energy spokesman.

Alliant crews also dealt with lines down from wind and falling trees.

About 664 Janesville customers lost power around 6:10 a.m. today, and 75 were still out at 8:50 a.m., Reigstad said.

The Elkhorn area also saw about 2,000 customers without power Thursday night. More than 400 customers remained without power this morning in Elkhorn, Williams Bay, Lake Geneva and Walworth, Reigstad said.

The Janesville wastewater treatment plant recorded 2.65 inches of rain from 7 p.m. Thursday through 7 a.m. this morning, but it was raining before and after those times.

With the Rock River still above flood stage, storm sewers weren’t doing the job they would do in drier times, so the low spots on Janesville streets flooded worse than usual this morning, said John Whitcomb, operations director for the public works department.

Whitcomb said he had never seen water flooding in one spot until this morning: Black Bridge Road near the landfill.

“It’s crazy. We’re going to have to start building an ark here pretty soon,” Whitcomb joked.

Lt. Tom Wolfram, shift commander for the Janesville Police Department, said the waters receded quickly, and no streets were barricaded.

No roads were closed in Rock County, the sheriff’s office reported.

The Rock River gauge at Afton showed the river going down just below the 11-foot mark at 6:15 p.m. last night, but then it rose steadily overnight, to 11.56 inches at 8 a.m. today.

The gauge upriver at Indianford, however, rose slightly overnight and seemed to have plateaued around 15.3 inches this morning.

The Rock River remains at flood stage from Jefferson south to the state line.

Storms also knocked down tents at the Jefferson County Fair.

In Dane County, police in McFarland said the storm knocked a tree onto a house, but nobody was injured.

The weather service estimated wind gusts of 70 mph or higher in Janesville just after 6 p.m. Thursday. The tower at the Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport, however, didn’t register any gusts higher than 37 mph.