BARABOO, Wis. — Toppled trees and down utility lines left lots of clean-up work do in Baraboo Thursday.
If you drive around the city, you will notice the damage from Wednesday night's storm is pretty spotty, but for the people who live in the neighborhoods that got hit the worst, they are pretty grateful to live where they do.
Wayne Grosklaus, who spent Thursday raking branches at his rental property, said you can't control Mother Nature.
“We've got a lot of small limbs down,” Grosklaus said. “Basically, all stuff I can pretty much rake up or pick up, so it isn't really bad.”
Grosklaus said he's lucky he didn't have much to clean up, but the neighbors just across the street are grateful to have been in the right place at the right time.
“There was an elbow right where my van would have been, so if we weren't going to get Jose food truck supper, we probably would have been in that car and would have probably been hurt,” Char Terbeest Kudla said.
Terbeest Kudla lost her front porch after a tree fell on it.
“It's kind of sad because I had this porch built from an inheritance from my mom,” Terbeest Kudla said.
However, she hasn't lost her hope because of it.
“I'm just so grateful that I live in a neighborhood where people help each other, and you don't expect it,” Terbeest Kudla said.
Lending a helping hand is second nature for Tate Robinson, who spent much of Wednesday night and Thursday going house to house up and down the block.
“Do right by others because someday you won't be around, and your family might need help, so it's just good to help people when you can,” Robinson said. “When I first started cutting out here in the street, within five minutes, we had 10 to 15 people helping us. I mean it was nice to see people helping instead of with their phones in their hands. You know, videotaping everything for social media or whatever they do, so it was a good experience.”
It's the kind of neighborhood experience that reminds Robinson why he lives where he does.