At least 1 dead, dozens injured after tornado hits northwestern Wisconsin

iStock/Thinkstock(CHETEK, Wisc.) — At least one person is dead and 25 injured after a suspected tornado caused massive damage to a mobile home park in northwestern Wisconsin on Tuesday.

Injuries ranged from minor to major and about forty mobile homes were destroyed at the Prairie Lake Estates in Barren County, Wisconsin, according to Tod Pritchard of Wisconsin Emergency Management.

“We’ve been very fortunate over the last couple of years to not have any kind of really devastating serious tornadoes,” he said. “This looks like it’s going to be the worst one we’ve had in several years.”

Barron County Wisconsin Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said the tornado it “at a time when a lot of people were home.”

“I would describe it as total destruction,” the sheriff said, adding that it was at a level he had never seen during his time in law enforcement.

Rescue crews, fire, police, and state patrol were at Barron County and neighboring Rusk County. Pritchard said six homes were either damaged or destroyed in Rusk County and officials were checking to see if there were injuries.

Rescue teams are expected to stay on site overnight, according to the sheriff.

Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Powered by WPeMatico