Wisconsin — After two days of disasters, first a fire that gutted a Lutheran church and then a deadly tornado, residents near this small town southeast of Madison, Wis., were out cleaning up in earnest Friday and giving thanks for small miracles.
"It was like a one-two punch," said emergency worker Peggy Hendrickson, who responded to both disasters.
Although the twister killed a 54-year-old man northwest of town, many were grateful that storms spawning nearly a score of tornadoes across western and southern Wisconsin did not take a higher toll.
Stoughton Hospital received 23 patients, and 20 of them were treated and released on Thursday night. Two were admitted and were in stable condition Friday. One person was airlifted to the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison in critical condition.
The Stoughton tornado in Dane County was the strongest, tentatively declared an F3 on the scale of 5 with its 200 mile per hour wind, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Bob McMahon.
Another strong twister had winds of up to 120 miles per hour as it swept just north of the village of Viola, 40 miles southeast of La Crosse in Richland County, McMahon said.
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