Severe Midwest Storm Is Blamed for 3 Deaths, 75 Destroyed Homes

Tornadoes and other severe weather pummeled the Midwest for a third straight day Wednesday. Two people died, more than 30 were injured, at least 75 homes were destroyed and more than 622,000 customers lost electricity.

A third death Wednesday was linked to thunderstorms the night before from the same weather system.

Destruction was reported Wednesday in Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana.

“It’s just devastating,” said Rosalind Gausman, clerk of the tiny town of Dunn, Wis., near Madison. “It missed us, but we could see the funnel going about half a mile away, and it was just a real loud roar.”

Sixty-eight homes in the township were blown away or damaged beyond repair, 32 were moderately damaged and 132 were lightly damaged, said township chairman Edmond Minihan.

About 30 people in the area suffered minor injuries, said Capt. David Listug of the Dane County Sheriff’s Department. He said it was a miracle nobody was killed.

The same tornado also caused damage in Oregon, Wis., where 10 to 15 houses were destroyed and about 30 more were damaged, said firefighter Gary Wackett.

Roofs were ripped off two housing units at the Oregon Correctional Center, slightly injuring three inmates, said deputy warden Sandy Sweney.

In Michigan, the National Weather Service reported many tornado sightings across the central and northern Lower Peninsula.

Large hail and high winds lashed metropolitan Detroit at nightfall.

The storms, with wind up to 70 m.p.h., cut off power to about 200,000 customers in Michigan, said a spokesman for Consumers Power Co. About 70,000 Detroit Edison Co. customers also lost power, a spokeswoman said.

A pilot was killed when high winds flipped over his plane while he tried to land at Troy-Oakland Airport north of Detroit, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

In Chicago, a 12-year-old girl was electrocuted when she touched a downed power line, according to police.

Elsewhere in Illinois, high winds, possibly a tornado, destroyed one home and tore off several roofs in Gilman but caused no injuries.

About 211,000 customers were without power after the storms passed through the six-county Chicago area.

An 8-year-old boy apparently was electrocuted Wednesday in St. Paul, Minn., by a power line that thunderstorms knocked down the night before, police said.