Merrill, WI Gets Hit Hard by Tornado

Just in from The Weather Channel:

Merrill, WI (Population: 10,146) took a hard hit tonight. At least 4 homes completely destroyed. Reports of damage to industrial park.

Back in 1999 I spent two weeks in Merrill attending a training class at Church Mutual Insurance. Not much to do around there, and while I was there we had three different nights with strong thunderstorms, the last occurring as I was standing in the Central Wisconsin Airport trying to get home. What was supposed to be my last day in Merrill both the temperature and humidity were in the 90's and that afternoon and evening there were huge, violent storms that shut down all air travel from Chicago to Minneapolis.  All the flights were canceled and I ending up spending another 24 hours in Merrill watching the light show.  Driving back to Merrill from the airport I went right through the heart of a big storm with torrential rain and lightning hitting all around.

Merrill had a couple of previous mentions on this blog.  One when some local union thugs assaulted people who were collecting signatures for recall petitions against Fleebagger state senators, and another when Church Mutual became a target of the unions because they supported Gov. Walker.

I took what I learned from my nine years in the church insurance business and put it here to help those churches out there who are trying to save some money and learn how to negotiate their next insurance policy.

UPDATE:  From the Wausau Daily Herald:

8:55 p.m. The storm and probable tornado that tore through Merrill on Sunday night left severe damage to property, cutting a swath through the northern part of the city that destroyed buildings, downed trees and left thousands without power.

A Daily Herald reporter on the scene of the damage said many streets were blocked off, trees were downed and evidence of damage was visible throughout the city.

We will continue to update as more information becomes available.

Update 8:40 p.m. An official with the National Weather Service of Green Bay said survey teams will be sent to north central Wisconsin Monday, but as of right now it is "quite likely we had (tornado) touchdowns."

Tom Hillman of the NWS said that the final determination will be made tomorrow.

Earlier updates: Multiple public safety departments are responding to damage in Merrill and Lincoln County after a tornado apparently touched down there.

Police scanner communications described "numerous reports of buildings down and people injured."

Severe damage was reported and emergency personnel were responding to multiple sites. The Daily Herald is sending a reporter and photographer to the scene and will report as more information becomes available.

According to the Wisconsin Public Service website, 86 outages in the Merrill area have left 5,355 homes without power. This is about 46 percent of the area, according to WPS.

In Marathon County, strong winds damaged a barn and several houses in the town of Hamburg, and brought down trees and at least one power line there.

A Daily Herald reporter on the scene said one house had a tree fall on it, and a barn had its roof blown off which struck the back of a house. There were no injuries reported in Hamburg. The damaged property was at Highway FF and Third Lane.

UPDATE 4/11/11: More info here. Sounds like Northern Wire was hit very hard.  And the Weather Channel has a crew on the ground in Merrill this morning.

Another UPDATE:  Video shot by a Merrill resident as the tornado approached.  There nothing spookier than the sound of the tornado siren going off the storm gets close: