PORTAGE, Wis. -- A Columbia County emergency management official said that even though damage estimates might total $1 million, the tornado that touched down on Tuesday night could have been much worse.

Surveying The Damage | Storm Chasers Film Tornado

Emergency management director Patrick Beghin gave the million-dollar preliminary estimate late on Wednesday.

The tornado followed a 15-mile path through Columbia County, ripping roofs from homes and knocking over tractor-trailers on the interstate.

It destroyed two homes and damaged 13 others. It toppled trees and power lines, which left more than 4,000 Alliant Energy customers without power. Almost all of the power has been restored and all roads are open, WISC-TV reported.

The twister hit southwest and south of Portage but generally stayed in rural areas, hitting farms and a large wildlife area, following the freeway for part of its path, and crossing the Wisconsin River twice.

Beghin said that it dissipated just as it was headed for more populated areas.

He said that much of it happened in the middle of Pine Island Wildlife Area, which is 5,000 acres of woods and fields.

That also helped prevent people from being harmed. He said that no serious injuries have been reported despite all the damage.

The Sky High Camping Resort near Cascade Mountain was just one site that took a direct hit from Tuesday's storms. The storm flipped five trailers at the campground, WISC-TV reported.

About 50 people were at the resort, which is basically on top of the mountain, when a tornado hit. They all made it to a shelter, but thousands of dollars of damage was done.

"On a Tuesday night -- we're very thankful it wasn't a weekend and (that) no one got hurt," said Eric Anderson, owner of the resort.

And at least one tornado hit the area south and north of Portage. Lori Haggerty was supposed to be taken to a birthday dinner when a tornado slammed into their hobby farm. Her son encouraged them to go to the basement just as the twister tore through the area.

It was the second tornado to hit them in six years. They lost 17 trees last time. This time about 20 or more trees are gone, along with a silo, barn and other belongings. The family remained safe.

"I never want to go to the basement, so my son Brett, he encouraged me to go down there and I saw how windy it was, and I thought, well it guess it won't hurt. We were only down there like two or three minutes and it happened. So, good thing he talked me into it," said Wayne Haggerty.

On Wednesday, Brett Haggerty surveyed the damage of what was to be his new car -- it was smashed under the barn debris.

Friends and family helped with the cleanup Wednesday, and the couple said they will never forget that.

Kathleen Mueller has survived two tornadoes -- one Tuesday night and one when she was 12.

Mueller said there was blue sky above her Tuesday when she finished watering the roosters at her Hilltop farm, but things changed in an instant.

"When I stepped out, all the wind just came blowing through the barn all the windows crashed in and all this glass and debris started blowing through the barn. I ran from the milk house down … to find my husband because he was right in the path of everything," she said.

Mueller's husband made it to safety, just barely, as a 60-foot steel windmill came crashing down. Meanwhile, his wife was trapped by falling debris.

"I heard the barn start to crash in, and I just happened to be where there is a big storm beam … and (I) just stayed there … It calmed down a little and I was able to dig through the debris at the end of the barn and make my way back to the house," said Kathleen Mueller.

The whole ordeal last only a mater of minutes, but Mueller said it seemed like an eternity.

The Muellers believe not one but two tornadoes came though -- just missing their house.

"We may have lost all the buildings, but we have the house and we are safe," said Mueller.

The storm also flipped two semis on Interstate 94, WISC-TV reported.

The National Weather Service is rating the storm as an F-1 tornado on the Fujita scale, which means it had winds of 73 to 112 mph. Beghin said that he was told it was near the upper end of that range.