Update: According to the National Weather Service, six additional tornadoes were confirmed from damage surveys on Sunday. That brings the total to nine for the March 31 tornado event.
Six additional tornadoes were confirmed from damage surveys today, bringing the total to nine for the March 31 tornado event. Another damage survey will occur tomorrow in Iowa County, so this total may rise. #swiwx
— NWS Milwaukee (@NWSMilwaukee) April 3, 2023
WALWORTH COUNTY— Lisa Lee heard sirens Friday night and immediately took shelter in a hallway in her home.
"God, I just want to live. I just want to make it through this," Lee said.
First came the sirens. Then, residents of Walworth County say they thought they heard a train.
"The wind was unbelievable. It was like a freight train. It sounded like a freight train," Shelley Sparks exclaimed.
That sound was actually a severe storm.
The Milwaukee National Weather Service office received reports of a tornado in Walworth County Friday night. Those reports came from cities including Elkhorn and Sharon.
“We heard a crash. I opened up the patio blinds and it didn’t look right. My garage didn’t look right," Sparks said. Her garage was completely leveled.
Many residents woke up Saturday morning to severe storm damage, including downed power lines, fallen trees, and scattered debris.
Across the street from Sparks, a self-storage facility's roof was blown off in the storm. Huge sheets of metal were scattered in a nearby field for nearly a mile.
"When we pulled up, we were like, 'Oh wow. That’s a lot of sheet metal'," Tim Halbach exclaimed.
Halbach is the Morning Coordination Meteorologist for the Milwaukee National Weather Service(NWS) office. He spent the day with a NWS Survey team in Walworth and Jefferson counties assessing damage to determine the severity of the storm.
Crews were also out clearing trees and fixing power lines. Jeff Marron, the Director of Emergency Response with Service Master, said it will likely take a few days to clean up.
In the meantime, Halbach says to use caution when cleaning up.
"Just let people do the clean up they need to do," stated Halbach.
"This is the first storm of the season. It seems like it will stay active for the next month. So have ways to get warnings about when these bad days happen."
While it's the first storm of the season, many say they hope it will be the last.
"I was just scared last night. I've never been that scared in my entire life. I never want to experience that again," Lee cried.
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