MENASHA — A walk west along Plank Road in Menasha reveals the tornado's destructive path block by block.
Near downtown, the damage is uneven. One home lost its roof while a neighboring house was left largely intact, illustrating the unpredictable nature of the storm.
"It's really devastating," said resident Todd Berge. "There are houses that lost everything. Houses with no roofs anymore. There are houses that have lost their vehicles. I've seen people walking down the road with just suitcases. That's all they have left."
Berge said he considers himself fortunate despite the damage to his property.
"I'd say we're very lucky," he said.
Farther west, the destruction intensifies. Vehicles lie overturned, trees are stripped of their leaves and upper branches, and homes have been torn apart.
Adriana Tovar and her family salvaged what they could, stuffing belongings into trash bags and laundry baskets.
"I was sad," Tovar said. "All the hard work my husband does to do this house for us and our family. He put so much hard work into this house."
Despite losing much of their home, Tovar said she is grateful her daughters survived. She called to warn them as the storm approached, telling them to get to the basement immediately.
"I said, 'Go to the basement now. There's a tornado,'" she said.
Tovar said it took two hours to navigate road closures and downed power lines before she could reach her family.
"You can't go through. You can't get through," she said. "I parked my car at the BP. I ran over here. I was worried about them."
National Weather Service survey teams also spent the day along Plank Road, documenting the damage to determine the tornado's strength.
"So far, we're pretty comfortable saying we have an EF2 tornado at this point," said Phil Kurimski of the National Weather Service office in Green Bay. He said surveyors have found numerous homes with collapsed exterior walls while interior walls remain standing, consistent with EF2 damage.
Cleanup and recovery efforts are now underway throughout the neighborhood. Utility crews are restoring power and communications while residents whose homes were spared are helping neighbors begin the difficult process of clearing debris and recovering what they can.
