PHOTOS: Strong winds blow down trees, cause power outages in Fond du Lac

Strong straight-line winds tore through southern Wisconsin early Saturday morning, March 15, 2025.

The winds were the result of a line of severe thunderstorms that formed and moved through the Iowa and Illinois areas. The storms weakened to below severe limits as they moved into our area, but the forcing of the fast moving storms had pushed an area of air out in front of the storms called a gust front that continued to move north east at between 50 and 60 miles per hour.

The winds hit the City of Fond du Lac area just before 1 AM. Reports of trees and wires down were reported throughout the city. Some of the worst areas hit were the 300 Block of Ledgeview Avenue where two large tree limbs were blown down, blocking the road. Just a few houses away, another limb fell, striking a natural gas line, busting it open. Fond du Lac Fire and Rescue responded and were able to get the gas shut off.

On 11th Street at Vine Street, a whole tree was toppled onto 11th Street, crushing a minivan that was parked on the road. Farther down 11th, just west of Park Avenue, another large tree limb was blown down across the roadway.

Areas out in the country didn’t fair any better. The Lamartine Fire Department was paged out at 1:17 AM to the area of County Highway C at Forest Avenue for a report of a barn that was blown over, taking down some powerlines. The owner of the barn reached out to KFIZ saying no animals were kept in the barn.

Around the same time, the Eden Fire Department was called to Highway 45 near Birch Road for a tree down blocking the southbound lane.

The National Weather Service had issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for the area at 12:30 AM saying 60 mph wind gusts were likely.