Straight-line winds caused extensive tree damage and power outages Tuesday night on Racine’s north-side.
More than a dozen massive trees were uprooted around 5:00 p.m. on Main Street near S. Creek Rd. Some landed on cars, power lines and houses like Marjorie Eckblad’s two-story home.
“We didn’t hear anything, it was kind of quiet for all the damage that we saw,” she said.
Eckblad was unaware of the damaging winds until she noticed something strange out her window.
“We were eating dinner in the back of the house, I came up to the front and noticed that the leaves were really close to the house,” she said. “Finally looked out and all of a sudden I noticed there was a tree down.”
What Eckblad thought was just one tree turned out to be three in her front yard and plenty more in each direction.
“I was a little nervous about it. I know they’ve probably been here for a hundred years,” she said.
Arthur Lambert lives across the street.
“It was probably at about close to 75-80 miles an hour,” he said.
Lambert was outside when the winds plowed through.
“As I was out there, it really started pouring rain and then the wind really came up so I got in the tent, was holding the tent together basically,” he said.
Both Lambert and Eckblad were fascinated by how centralized the damage appears to be, leaving a row of neighbors all on clean-up duty.
“Looks like they took out our gutters and maybe part of our roof, but nothing’s leaking in the house,” Eckblad said. “We’ll just see what’s underneath once the insurance company comes.”
Several homeowners lost power after the straight-line winds, but the whole neighborhood went pitch dark shortly after 9:00 p.m. We Energies crews were in the area to restore power.
