A severe storm swept through the Fox Valley early Monday afternoon, damaging and destroying homes and businesses and leaving tens of thousands of people without power. The National Weather Service reported a tornado in Outagamie County and widespread debris and damage throughout the community. The storm also brought hail of two inches in diameter or more.
Reported damage includes:
- Several social media videos showed neighborhoods in Menasha with significant damage, including destroyed homes near Manderfield’s Bakery at 811 Plank Road, which also was shown destroyed.
- WFRV reported that the Miller Electric Distribution Center at 1000 S. Perkins Street was “extremely damaged.”
- NBC 26 reported that an office building in the 700 block of Fourth Street sustained exterior damage including uprooted trees and blown-out windows.
- Restaurants in downtown Menasha, including Mihm’s Charcoal Grill reported that they faced closures due to power outages and inaccessibility.
Menasha Utilities said on its Facebook page that the entire city of Menasha was without power because of a downed transmission line. The utility said it would send crews to begin repairs as soon as it was safe to do so. Residents reported that they also had no water service. The WE Energies outage map said as of 4:30 p.m. about 31,000 customers were without power in Appleton, Neenah and Menasha.
Three locations in Menasha are available to residents as emergency cooling shelters and have basic assistance and water available, including Menasha Senior Center, Christ the Rock Church and the Menasha Public Library, according to Fox 11 News. No further information on impacted businesses was immediately available.
