As Wisconsin residents are cleaning up damage from storms that rolled through the state this week, flooding in some communities is leading to evacuation orders.

Teams with the National Weather Service’s Milwaukee-Sullivan office are surveying possible tornado damage in Waukesha, Kenosha, Racine, Marquette and Walworth counties.

Meanwhile, emergency evacuation orders have been issued in some northeast Wisconsin communities, including the village of Shiocton in Outagamie County and in low-lying areas of Weyawega, Fremont and New London in Waupaca County.

The weather service confirmed an EF2 tornado hit the village of Lisbon on Tuesday night. Winds reached speeds of up to 120 mph. Meteorologist Timothy Halbach of the National Weather Service’s Milwaukee-Sullivan office said a residential area north of Sussex was hit hard.

“There’s a number of houses in a subdivision that had a direct hit from the tornado, with either parts of the roof getting blown off or garage doors and garages being partially destroyed,” Halbach said. 

Lisbon Presbyterian Church, built in 1857, was damaged. Pastor Sara Knowles said the chimney collapsed onto the roof.

“There’s a lot of debris that has fallen inside the sanctuary itself, so it’s a big gray dust cloud in there,” she said. 

Knowles said there’s a piece of metal lodged behind an organ pipe in the building, as well as damage to the outside of the church.

Lisbon resident Jerry Kienest said he was home when he started hearing the tornado warning sirens around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night.

“Normally, I’m not too scared by that. But I looked outside and the gazebo in the back of my house was literally shaking, so we ran downstairs,” Kienest said. 

Kienest said he didn’t get as much damage as some of his neighbors did, but his roof was leaking into four different rooms of his house. He was cleaning up downed trees in his backyard Wednesday morning. 

Waukesha County spokesperson Hillary Mintz said there were no reported injuries. 

Halbach said the office is keeping an eye on more rainfall expected to drop Wednesday.

“We’ve had a number of days with the rainfall now, and anything on top of what’s already fallen could cause things to flood a little bit easier,” Halbach said.

There’s currently a “large scale evacuation” in place for all residents of the village of Shiocton in Outagamie County where the Wolf River is expected to continue to rise through Friday. A social media post from the village said residents were required to evacuate by 3 p.m. Wednesday. 

“The water is rising fast and only expected to get worse in the next couple of days,” the post said. 

In Shiocton, streets were closed to traffic due to the flooding. Community members loaded pickup trucks with sandbags.

But not everyone planned to leave. WPR spoke to one resident who lives in the evacuation zone but plans to stay at home despite flooding in her basement.

Jim Justice, a fellow Shiocton resident, said he wasn’t going to take chances.

“If they’re telling us to evacuate, it’s for a reason,” he said. “It’s for people’s safety. I just feel that you’re better off going because who knows, it’s unpredictable what might happen.”

In a social media post, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson told residents it was “critical that you leave the area” for their safety.

“Please do not delay,” he said. “If you choose not to evacuate, emergency responders will likely be unable to reach or assist you once conditions worsen.”

Steven Gassner lives outside the village of Shiocton but his children go to school there. He was helping people load sandbags Wednesday. He said much of the community came out to help.

“People from all over come together to support each other and it’s a beautiful thing,” he said. “A greater good always comes out of something that’s bad.”

Though his spirits were lifted seeing so many trying to help, Gassner also said “it’s very heartbreaking” that some could lose their homes from the flooding.

“People that lived here for all their lives, and their property and memorabilia and things that mean a lot to them may get lost,” he said. “It’s hard to see. It aches my heart to see people suffering in this way.”

Emergency evacuation notices are also in place for residents of low lying river areas of Weyawega, Fremont and New London in Waupaca County “due to dangerous flood waters,” according to a statement from the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Office.

The city of New London is also asking residents of low-lying areas to evacuate.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has announced the Wisconsin River is “expected to rise to major flood levels in the Portage area.”

Meanwhile, a Wednesday statement from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation said multiple highways are closed due to flooding throughout northeast and north central Wisconsin.

“Due to the potential for more rainfall, other areas of the state could be impacted as conditions change over the coming hours and days,” the statement said.

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