Damaged church, leveled home, twisted trees among Wisconsin storm damage

A second consecutive evening of severe storms battered Wisconsin on April 14, leveling at least one Juneau County home and tearing part of the roof off a Waukesha County church.

High winds tore down trees and twisted power lines. Baseball-sized hail shattered car windshields. National Weather Service surveyors confirmed at least two tornadoes and are assessing potential touchdowns in four other counties.

A confirmed EF2 tornado hit Lisbon Presbyterian Church. No one was in the 169-year-old building when the damage occurred. Church leaders took solace in the stained-glass windows surviving the onslaught of winds and debris.

“Those are hand-painted windows by one of our parishioners who lost her son 46 years ago,” Sherrie Schmackle said as she gestured toward the unbroken panes that provide natural light in the church’s sanctuary. “They’re safe, so that’s very important.”

Multiple tenants in a nearby business park also sustained heavy damage. Lumber, insulation and shards of window glass were strewn across the lawn.

Dennis Forston took in the mangled remains with disbelief.

“This is crazy,” he said under his breath as he peered out of his pickup truck.

Forston used to run a construction business at the park before retiring in 2025. He weathered some damage in 20 years there but nothing approaching the level of the April 14 storm.

“One of my former employees called me and said ‘You should see your office now,’” he said. “It’s just unbelievable.”

Intense rainfall leads to water rescues, possible sewer overflows, flood warnings

The National Weather Service warned of a “tornadic thunderstorm” for the Milwaukee metro area. Milwaukee Public Schools canceled after-school activities.

“Serious doesn’t begin to describe the weather setup later today,” Tom Wachs, chief meterologist for WITI-TV (Fox 6) wrote on social media.

A tornado warning was issued for Milwaukee County from about 6:30 to 7:15 p.m.

As many as 25,000 Wisconsin utility customers lost power during the storm, with more than half of the outages occurring in Waukesha County. By midday April 15, about 4,500 remained without power.

Rising floodwaters stranded some people in their cars during the storm.

The Milwaukee Fire Department responded to about 50 water rescue calls, most of which came from the northwest side, Fire Chief Aaron Lipski told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Staffing was beefed up in advance of the storm to ensure less scrambling. Specific units were dispatched to solely handle rescue calls, cutting down wait times for motorists in distress.

At Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, rain totals measured just over an inch for April 14. Some of the city’s surrounding suburbs logged upward of 3 inches of rain.

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District is investigating sewer overflows in Bayside, River Hills and northern Milwaukee following the days of intense rainfall.

The sewerage district also issued a water drop alert, urging residents to cut back on water use to avoid more overflows and impacts to local waterbodies. Residents should take shorter showers, save laundry and dishes for another day, and ensure there is enough room in rain barrels.

At least 20 Wisconsin counties are under flood warnings, with some rivers expected to reach major flood stages over the next several days.

In southeast Wisconsin, the most significant flooding is occurring at the Wisconsin River at Portage, said J.J. Wood, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Milwaukee/Sullivan. The river was at 18.9 feet, which falls just below what is considered major flooding, the morning of April 15. The river is forecast to crest at 20.3 feet between the evening of April 17 and the morning of April 18.

Thunderstorms, winds, flooding reported across Wisconsin

The storm swept across the state over several hours, wrecking uneven havoc.

Radar picked up a tornado in Union Center in Juneau County, said Alex Ferguson, a National Weather Service meteorologist in La Crosse. The ground survey team is determining whether the tornado was EF3 or greater.

A photo shared to social media showed a home in Union Center completely leveled by the storm.

National Weather Service surveyors were assessing potential tornadoes in Sussex, as well as Marquette, Walworth, Racine and Kenosha counties.

Kenosha County was spared from major structural damage, said Lt. Chase Forster of the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office. High winds toppled some trees and powerlines along the 8000 block of 12th street and 1300 block of 72nd Avenue. Some homes had siding and gutters ripped off.

Madison was hit hard by hailstones. The largest were 4 inches in diameter, found just north of Madison in Maple Bluff.

“Anecdotally, we know it was very damaging in the sense that pretty much any car that was outside probably has a few dings in it,” said city spokesperson Dylan Brogan. That included several Madison Police Department squad cars.

In Racine County, damages were isolated to the western half near Waterford, said James Evans of the Racine County Sheriff’s Office. A barn was significantly damaged, and some trees and power lines were knocked down in that area.

“All in all,” Evans said, “we fared pretty well.”

Caitlin Looby, Maia Pandey, Caden Perry and David Clarey of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Damaged church, leveled home, twisted trees among Wisconsin storm damage

Reporting by Kelly Meyerhofer, Kelli Arseneau, Gina Lee Castro and Jim Riccioli, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Damaged church, leveled home, twisted trees among Wisconsin storm damage."