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Linn Township pulls together to help families hit by twister

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Tornado rips through Walworth County

A rare November tornado hit Linn Township in Walworth County Nov. 22, 2010, damaging four homes and destroying several barns.

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LINN TOWNSHIP — Bonnie Cornue said she had cried enough Monday night—a tornado had leveled her family farm on Lakeville Road.

With Tuesday's sunny sky and brisk wind, now was the time to laugh, she said.

"Look, my American flag is still flying," Bonnie said of Old Glory on a flag pole bent by the EF-1 twister that plowed through 4.2 miles of rural Walworth County, according to the Wisconsin Emergency Operations Center in Madison.

The twister, at times, was 100 yards wide, the center reported. EF-1 tornadoes usually contain wind speeds up to 100 mph and generally tear off roofs and level buildings without foundations, according to weather-related Internet sites.

Bonnie's farm lost a long pole building, a home, a silo, and tree branches pierced the shingled roof of another home on the farm. Four cows, chickens and turkeys were killed by the dervish. The farms surviving 30 cows were being pastured by a friend.

About 700 in Linn Township, which included the entire community of Zenda, were without power late Tuesday.

Bonnie was surrounded by the kind of warm love that rural folk do best. Volunteers lent their muscle and grit to saw down broken trees, clean up shattered buildings and offer words of hope.

"That's what farm people do," Bonnie, president of the Reek School District, said. "They're here for you."

Bonnie and her husband, Dick, were one of the two farm owners hard hit by the tornado in southcentral Walworth County. The other farm is owned by Kelly and Deb Elliott, who live a little northeast of the Cornues on County B.

The tornado first damaged the Cornues' farm, then torn the roof off of Scott Sherman's home on Swamp Angel Road. Then it moved on to the Elliotts' farm, Linn Township Police Chief Dennis Wisniewski said.

"The local community pulled together for us," said Bonnie's daughter, Christine Hill, as she carried furniture from the surviving house. "God bless them."

No one was harmed during the tornado's touchdown, but a few amazing tales have emerged.

The Cornue's son and daughter-in-law, Dan and Mary, and their three children, live in the house on the farm that was destroyed by the twister.

Mary Cornue was looking out of a window when she saw approaching ominous clouds. There was no rain, no warning. Suddenly, Mary saw the barn breaking apart and debris was heading toward her home, Bonnie said.

There was a terrible noise. Mary shouted that someone grab her 22-year-old son and head to the basement.

Visitor Ben Haeberlin held up the collapsing roof of the first-floor while the family made a safe escape.

Moments later the same twister hit the Elliotts' farm and destroyed a livestock barn while Deb was inside. She crouched and protected her head to escape flying glass and collapsing timbers. None of her animals were lost.

Bonnie said the twister blasted the gray paint and white trim off of the cedar shingles on her home that's stood for more than 100 years.

Bonnie joyfully gazed at what's left of the main barn and mentioned that her barn quilt—which resembles multicolored textile art—had survived, as had her century-old house with the crooked flag pole.