RHINELANDER, WI (WSAU-WXPR) — State Senator Tom Tiffany says the scope of the July 19 blowdown damage has not fully been reported.
Tiffany says with Federal Emergency Management officials in the area to assess the damage, more will be known if the blowdown rises to the level of being able to receive federal disaster aid. “They’re going to report back with Wisconsin Emergency Management to Gov. Evers and he’ll make the call whether to make that request to the federal government.”
Tiffany chairs the state Senate committee on Sporting Heritage, Mining and Forestry and says the depth of the damage is amazing. “The estimates I’m hearing is there’s enough wood down in this region as a result of the storm blowdown to provide our mills with wood for two years. It is a tremendous amount of wood.”
Tiffany says he hopes the agencies move quickly.”I’ve been really encouraging the state and federal governments to get after this. I’m hopeful the U.S. Forest Service, which has some very high-value hardwood…that they expeditiously clear those forest roads so we can get at that high-value hardwood. If it’s not cleared soon, it’s going to lose it’s value.”
The National Weather Service reports the worst damage was associated with a “macroburst,” a large downburst of straight-line winds that affected a large swath from Pelican Lake in Oneida County, southeast through Langlade and Oconto counties.
Hundreds of thousands of trees were snapped or uprooted, resulting in damage to hundreds of homes and cottages. The damage path was about 60 miles long and up to 10 miles wide at times. Winds were at least 100 mph in the hardest-hit areas near Lily in northeast Langlade County.
