BELMONT, Wis. -- The tornado siren in Belmont is working now, but for some reason it malfunctioned just as twisters hit Lafayette County Saturday, seriously damaging many farms.
Joel DeSpain spent Monday there, where residents told him the storm was frightening and awesome.
Judy Klein said, "It was 8 p.m., which it's still light, and all of a sudden it was like it was midnight."
Some say it's a miracle that more farms weren't torn apart.
Lafayette County Deputy Reg Gill responded to calls of grave sightings throughout Monday.
Klein and her family had to rely on TV for tornado warnings.
"There was no warning -- I mean, we watched Channel 3, so we saw the list of the towns, and times it was supposed to hit, and it hit within two or three minutes of the time it was to hit Belmont," she said. "People who did not have their TV on -- they were not aware of it. No siren went off."
There was bad luck, and good luck, DeSpain reported. An eight of diamonds card was lodged into a milk truck. It had been in play when five men inside a mobile home at Kirk Evenstead's dairy farm literally had their game blow up.
A deck and a doghouse survived, as did the card players.
"I think there might be somebody looking down on these guys for sure, and it must not have been there time to go," Evenstead said.
It was the same story at several farms. Janice Hendricks lost her husband to a farm accident not long ago, but she and the kids are fine.
Jeni Opitz and her family, whose farm is just over another hill, also survived.
"I'm just in awe -- how it picks and chooses what it wants to take," she told DeSpain. "There were many other homes in the line of fire that it could have taken, and it just left those homes alone, and took the old barns. We're lucky that way."
All 32 seniors from Belmont's senior class are also feeling lucky. They spent time Monday cleaning up the storm's mess.
"It made me realize that you shouldn't take things for granted, and at anytime things can happen, even in a little town like Belmont," said Lindsay Olthafer, class valedictorian.
Belmont's seniors will be back in school Tuesday, while the juniors head out to the debris fields to pitch in and help their community.
Need Help?The Badger chapter of the Red Cross is offering help to the victims of Saturday's storms.
If you were affected and are in need of emergency assistance like housing, food, clothing, health care or counseling, you're urged to contact the Red Cross at
(608) 233-9300.
How Did Dane County React?Even though only parts of Dane County were threatened by the storm, officials made a snap decision to activate the entire outdoor warning system.
Sirens are triggered from the county's 911 center.
The entire system can be activated or officials can pick which of nine zones to sound them, but News 3 has learned that because the storm's path and potential were unpredictable, all the sirens were triggered at once.
"When we activate the sirens, we're attempting to get out a warning that something is happening and get out that warning in advance of say a tornado actually developing," said Dave Janda, communications specialist for Dane County emergency management. "If we wait until a tornado is on the ground, it's too late. And if we wait until we know exactly where it's going to be, it's probably too late for the people who are going to be right in the path."
Janda believes all 99 sirens worked.
One siren that didn't work in a test last week was repaired before Saturday's storm.
Copyright 2009 by Channel 3000. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
