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Volume of outages from windy storm keeps crews busy

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Severe weather 2011-12

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

A willow tree at the rear of the Galvan home on Sunset Dr. in Janesville was split in two and toppled during Wednesday night's storm. One section of the tree smashed a fence and grazed a neighbors house, while the second piece fell on the Galvan home but caused only minor damage.

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

Janesville restoration specialist Ron Sutterlin examines the wreckage left from the decorative spire that sat on top of the Lincoln-Tallman Restorations and tries to salvage what he can. Sutterlin recently restored the spire which was blown off the structure during Wednesday's storm along with it's supporting structure and the metal roof.

JANESVILLE — When Rock County Historical Society curator Laurel Fant came to work Thursday morning she noticed a crumpled mess in the grass next to the Lincoln–Tallman House.

On closer inspection, she realized it was pieces of the Lincoln–Tallman House cupola roof. The metal cupola roof—including an original, hand-carved 12-foot wood spire—was torn off by heavy winds from a storm that ripped through southern Wisconsin late Wednesday.

The storm, which officials said packed sustained winds of 50 to 80 miles per hour, tore through the region between 8 and 9 p.m. Wednesday, dropping rain and hail, toppling trees and causing scattered power outages throughout Rock and Walworth counties.

Alliant Energy reported the storm knocked out power to more than 6,600 customers in Rock County and another 2,300 customers in Walworth County.

Alliant Energy spokesman Scott Reigstad said Thursday that crews had restored power to two-thirds of customers affected by the outage.

He said about 1,400 customers in Janesville and a few hundred customers in Walworth County remained without power, but the company expected to have power fully restored Thursday night.

Alliant brought in crews from as far as Marion to handle the outages. Most were caused by power lines downed by trees and branches tossed in the storm Wednesday.

Crews worked to restore big blocks of power late Wednesday and Thursday, and then focused on isolated outages affecting one or two customers, which Reigstad said were all over the map.

“We had 140 separate little outages, and when you’re doing that, you’ve got to visit a lot of single places. It’s slow going,” Reigstad said.

Carol Garry, a Janesville resident at 126 East State St., said power was knocked out to her neighborhood on the city’s southeast side late Wednesday and was still out Thursday afternoon. Everything in her freezer was melting.

Garry said a neighbor told her a transformer blew a few blocks away at Bingham Avenue, where tree limbs were hanging on power lines.

“Half a tree is still leaning on the wires down there. Nothing’s been done,” she said.

Reigstad said crews were wrestling with dozens of fallen trees before they could reach many of the remaining downed lines.

Barb Uebelacker, a spokeswoman for Rock Energy Cooperative, said 30 Janesville-area customers were still without power Thursday afternoon, but the company expected to fully restore power late Thursday.

Lincoln–Tallman damage

Historic restoration contractor Ron Sutterlin on Thursday surveyed damages to the 16-by-20-foot metal cupola roof torn from the 160-year-old Lincoln–Tallman House, a city-owned landmark at 440 N. Jackson St., Janesville.

He said it could cost at least $30,000 to replace the roof and the broken wood spire, known as a finial, which is a signature part of the cupola. Sutterlin called the shattered spire “priceless.”

“It’s like losing some really precious folk art because a lot of it was hand-carved out of old growth lumber, probably from timber that was 300 years old,” he said.

The damage comes after Sutterlin had finished a restoration last fall on the Lincoln–Tallman House cupola, including work on wood finials.

“It wasn’t the best of timing,” Fant said.

Fant said the historical society forwarded damage information to a city of Janesville engineer. It wasn’t clear Thursday whether the city’s insurance would cover the damage.

Meanwhile, the roof was covered with tarps, and could be repaired as part of other work planned at the building later this summer, Sutterlin said.

Flooded with calls

Rock County 911 reported doubling its staff to handle more than 50 calls during the storm Wednesday night, and the Walworth County Sheriff’s Department reported at least 65 calls.

Many people reported sparking power lines and scores of downed trees that blocked roadways.

Walworth County Sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Hall said at one point hail was falling so hard in the southern part of the county that a dispatcher could hear it hammering against the roof of a deputy’s cruiser while he radioed in.

Rock County reported no serious injuries from the storm. Hall said a motorist in rural Walworth County had minor injuries after a tree fell on the driver’s car.