Inside Wisconsin Politics is available wherever you
get your podcasts. A devastating EF3 tornado
with winds up to 140mph hit the Appleton area on Monday.
It leaves people without power under boil water
advisories, curfews and pleas to shelter in place
to keep roads clear. People are in shelters as
donations pour in. All as communities try to pick up
the pieces of their homes and lives. This week,
Governor Tony Evers declared a state of
emergency and activated the National Guard to ensure
every available resource is deployed in response. The
city of Menasha took a direct hit from the tornado
as it moved south from Appleton. Menasha Mayor
Austin Hammond joins us now. Mayor, thanks very much for
being here. >> Thank you for having me.
>> How are you and your city doing right now?
>> We're doing all right. There is a huge influx of
helping hands over the last couple of days. We have a
great volunteer operation happening at, the former
U.A.W. Fox Cities campus. And volunteer Fox Cities is
running that. And yesterday alone, we had 1200
volunteers, which has been incredible. And we've been
blessed by neighboring municipalities coming to
help us neighboring utility companies. But, the damage
from the storm is remarkably significant.
People have lost their homes. People have lost
lost their businesses, public infrastructure,
power out. Our water plants were hit, and we're reliant
on the city of Neenah to help us do that. And as was
mentioned earlier, some of the areas of water service
are under a water boil advisory right now. So it's
been a difficult and challenging and trying week
for folks here in the city of Menasha are strong and
resilient and, are making the most of it. So even in
the most darkest and difficult moments, people
are choosing to look out for each other and find
ways to lift each other up. And it's also been
incredible to see the public sector, private
sector, faith communities all come together to uplift
our community. So it's really been truly
incredible to see people come together in this
really difficult moment. But it's incredibly sad how
much damage has happened due to this storm.
>> So despite this enormous property damage, how
surprising is it that no one was killed?
>> I mean, it's it's a miracle. It's truly
remarkable. I think some of it has to do with time of
day in the middle of the week. Thankfully, many
folks were at work. And then I think notifications
that were given to give people ample notice of the
storm to get into safe locations is another part
of it. But it really is a miracle that nobody to, to
this point in time. There's no fatalities, because of
the storm. >> What is the state at
week's end here of restoration of services and
cleanup? >> Yeah. So our in the city
of Menasha, we have Menasha Utilities, a local utility
company. And they have been restoring a great amount of
power throughout our community. So, near our
downtown and the furthest side of the city. And it's
going to take quite a while yet for restoration of
power to be done collectively throughout the
entire city. But they're making tremendous progress
working very quick. So, that has been very, very
encouraging to see. And then right now we're in
operation of clearing debris throughout the city
of Menasha. So we've contracted contractors to
come in and help our departments, remove some of
that debris. And National Guard are here today, and
they're going to start with traffic control and things
like that to help us go and more specific sections of
our community so those contractors can do that
important work, to remove the debris. So we're, we're
actively getting as much of the debris out as possible.
Utilities are working tirelessly to get power
back on. And in addition to our first responders, law
enforcement have just been doing an incredible job,
making sure people are taken care of and provided
for. And it's just been a ton of volunteer efforts to
make sure that we're providing people with
cooling shelters, places to recharge their phone, have
a meal, have water. And it's just all hands on deck
and really collectively making sure that our
community is provided for. >> What does your community
need most now? >> I think the community
right now needs most. I would probably say just to
be able to have the opportunity to have that
work done that is so needed of removing the debris. And
I would just put an ask out that people are not coming
to gawk while people are in some of the darkest moments
of their life trying to clean up their home, clean
up the debris, when people are coming and congesting
our streets, it's making it difficult for the work that
needs to be done to be done effectively. So if you're
coming to Menasha to be a helping hand, please go
visit volunteer Fox Cities website. And it has all of
the volunteer opportunities there. Based out of the old
UW Fox Cities campus off of midway. We would love to
have you come volunteer. But we need, we need
collaboration and partnership. And I would
news and look at pictures. That way of what has been
happening in our community. But right now, I would just
say we really need the ability to let the work be
done that needs to be done, whether it's our volunteers
doing incredible work, the National Guard, our
emergency management, first responders, Department of
Public Works utility company, the contracted
work, the sooner all of that can happen quickly and
efficiently without interruption, the quicker
this process. >> All right, Mayor Austin