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Chetek man hit by tornado hours after cleaning up from storm damage from last year

Homeowner had to pull his chainsaw back out
Posted at 9:30 PM, May 18, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-18 22:30:24-04

Clean up efforts are underway in the counties hit by an EF2 tornado in Northern Wisconsin but for a Chetek man the scene is deja vu for a bad storm last year, only this year it’s worse.

David Sorenson's had his chainsaw out at his house again, after a storm nearly a year ago left him with a similar mess. He just finished clearing the last of the debris hours before the tornado hit on Tuesday.

"A year ago almost to the day, a tornado hit. A downburst hit here. It started at my mailbox here and took 50 trees down in seven seconds," Sorenson said.

He had been working pretty regularly to get it fixed up.

"Tuesday, 2 p.m. I hauled my last log over to my log yard. And I was done. (At) 5 p.m. it rolled in from a different direction this time," Sorenson said.

The storm ripped off siding of his house and a caved in garage.

"It took about a minute for all this to happen," Sorenson said.  "So I got the chainsaw in my hand again."

Along with the damage to his house, debris broke the windshield of his truck.

"One broke broke window that's no big deal," Sorenson said.

Through all of it he hasn’t lost his sense of humor.

"One distraught wife, that's a big deal." Sorenson said laughing.

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