EVANSVILLE, Wis. — It’s been one month since historic tornadoes hit Green County and Rock County, leaving trails of destruction.
Feb. 8, 2024, was the first time Wisconsin had ever had a recorded a February tornado. In fact, it had multiple that day.
For Connie Arndt, some of the shock that came with last month’s storms still lingers.
“What an unbelievable month it’s been,” she said.
Back in February, the tornado destroyed four buildings and damaged a home on the Arndt’s family rental property. The area was once covered in trees; all of those were leveled too.
Since then, they’ve been cleaning up and slowly rebuilding. She said dealing with the issues that arose after the major storm has been tough.
“Working with insurance has been anything but easy,” Arndt said. “We’ve been doing tons of getting quotes, and trying to find people available hasn't been easy because of the sheer volume.”
The community has been stepping up to help.
Austin Schmelzer has been meeting often with his team at the Tornado Recovery Task Force.
“We've seen people from Appleton to Chicago,” he said. “They've come forward, and they've helped and that was great.”
As things are getting cleaned up, Schmelzer said they’ve needed fewer volunteers. Recently, they’ve been working on getting the $20,000 they’ve raised so far into the hands of people who need it.
“Some of the challenges that we've encountered are getting ahold of homeowners that have unfortunately been relocated when they lost their home or their home was damaged,” he said.
Schmelzer said what stuck out to him the most was the outpouring of support from the community.
“The people that are affected, they're strong; they're sticking through it,” he said. “They're figuring their options out.”
Arndt said she couldn’t be prouder of her community.
“This isn't going to change anything,” she said. “We're committed to our property. We're committed to the community. We're committed to our tenants; we're committed to rebuilding and focusing on the positive and I guess that's the future.”