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Monday storms leave minor damage

Photo

Photo by Submitted photo

A rural Milton resident shows off a golf ball sized piece of hail that fell across northern Rock County on Monday night.

JANESVILLE — Severe storms struck the northern and northeastern sections of Rock County the hardest Monday night, though the area was spared from heavy damage.

Another round of possibly severe storms was expected Tuesday night into this morning.

Officials on Tuesday morning said no structure damage was reported in Rock County. The majority of damage was downed tree limbs and power lines.

Rock County Public Works Superintendent Hal Mayer said Tuesday morning his crews were finishing the cleanup of roadway debris. Most of the fallen tree limbs were in Fulton and Milton townships, he said.

One crew worked through Monday night with Alliant Energy, cleaning debris as the power company fixed down lines, he said. On Tuesday afternoon, a WE Energies spokesman said about 150 homes still were without power in East Troy, and crews were hoping to have power restored no later than midnight.

The Milton area was the hardest hit in Rock County, said Chris Franks, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sullivan.

The weather service received reports of 1 inch to 1.5 inch hail west of Lake Koshkonong, he said. Winds likely reached more than 60 mph in the area, he said.

The worst of the storms intensified when they reached Jefferson County and across Waukesha County, where two tornadoes were confirmed, he said.

A few reports of hail-damaged crops came in around the northern Rock County line, said Judy Schambow, county executive director for Rock County Farm Service Agency.

The most vulnerable crop now is winter wheat because it’s close to maturity, said Jim Stute, UW Extension crops and soils agent.

“The kicker this year is a lot of wheat acreage is not insured” because wet conditions kept farmers from planting it by insurance deadlines last fall, he said.