Home damaged by tornado in Mattoon, WI. Image courtesy: WAOW TV
MATTOON, WI (WSAU-WAOW) A local veteran had his home badly damaged from one of the many tornadoes that raged through Wisconsin.
Keith Schmidt is an Army and Marine Veteran who currently lives in Mattoon. In late may he was at home watching the weather warnings when suddenly the tornado hit.
Schmidt said, “The first indication I had that there was a problem was when the west side door blew… I had 5 or 6 doors standing in front of it, it flattened all of them out, it blew the casing, the casing came across the top of my head and pierced the flat screen Tv set.”
The casing of the door just missing his head, shortly after, he ran into his basement when he noticed another problem. The house suddenly started to fill with propane gas. A birch tree fell on his tank causing the 500 gallon tank to leak.
He added, “I’m thankful to be alive. Because it was an EF0 tornado that hit. I thank God for his faithfulness in watching over me because, it could’ve turned out differently.”
His community saw how much work he has to do to rebuild his home. Neighbors are offering help with some of the labor, people helped simply by picking up his lawn. It all means a lot to Keith.
Schmidt ended by saying, “This is a community that pulls itself up, and supports itself, and supports it’s neighbors. It’s why I choose to live here… If your willing to work and do stuff yourself, they are more than willing to help.”
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