Lightning-charged Storms Cause Power Losses, Flooding, Fires

Several waves of lightning-charged thunderstorms swept across southern Wisconsin August 24, flooding streets, starting fires and knocking out power to about 12,000 people in the southeast part of the state.

In Muskego, lightning struck a 43-year-old woman walking across a Pick 'n Save parking lot. Muskego police and members of the Tess Corners Fire Department responded to the store at S74-W17005 Janesville Road about 2:20 p.m. to treat the woman, who was carrying an umbrella when she was struck.

She was "conscious and alert" when officers arrived, police Sgt. Richard Rens said.

The woman was taken to Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Wauwatosa, where her condition was unavailable.

About 7,000 We Energies customers had lost power in the Burlington area and about 3,000 customers were left without electricity in the West Bend area the afternoon of August 24, Beth Martin, a spokeswoman for the utility said.

Another 2,000 power failures were reported in the Port Washington area and in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties, though all but about 1,300 customers had their power restored by 8:30 p.m. August 24, Martin said.

"That storm was filled with a lot of lightning," Martin said, describing how lightning hit transformers, utility poles and power line equipment, causing the power losses that began about noon.

Dispatchers for the Racine County Sheriff's Department reported that the Village of Waterford had closed Main St. between Jefferson and Racine streets because of flooding. Other areas in Racine County that sustained limited flooding were at Highways 11 and 32 in Mount Pleasant and Racine; parts of Lathrop Ave. in Mount Pleasant; and near Highway 31 and 16th St., also in Mount Pleasant, authorities said.

At least two homes in Caledonia were struck by lightning, though neither sustained any damage, a spokesman for Caledonia police said.

Numerous lightning strikes in eastern Racine County set off false alarms at a few businesses, dispatchers reported.

In Lake Geneva, lightning stuck the television antenna on the roof of a home, causing minor fire damage and frying some of the home's wiring, a fire department official said.

And in Dane County, 2 inches of rain fell in two hours during another afternoon cloudburst, the National Weather Service in Sullivan said.

In Madison, 2.25 inches of rain had fallen by 9 p.m., shattering the previous record for the same date, 1.11 inches, which was recorded in 1892, the Weather Service said. Milwaukee recorded 0.53 inches; Racine, 1.88; Kenosha, 2.57; and Waukesha, 1.42.

Lightning also is suspected as the cause of an early-morning fire at the St. Catherine Commons senior apartment complex in Kenosha, Acting Fire Chief Matt Haerter said. Emergency crews evacuated 67 people from the building, Haerter told The Associated Press. The blaze broke out about 2 a.m.