by Beth Gardiner
Students just returning to Platteville from their summer vacations would not be able to imagine the damage and destruction that came upon our community shortly after school got out. Severe storms rolled through Platteville late June 16th and early June 17th, which included two tornadoes, an EF1 and an EF2.
The EF1 tornado, a half mile long and 50 yards wide, was sighted near the Platteville Golf and Country Club. It destroyed the roof off of an apartment building and also damaged trees. The EF2 tornado was sighted two miles west of Platteville at 120 mph winds and rolled through the UW-Platteville Campus. This caused severe damage to several buildings including the Engineering Hall, Rountree Commons, Bridgeway Commons, Southwest Hall, the greenhouse, and Pioneer Stadium. Several houses near Harrison Park were also damaged and destroyed. Most areas not directly impacted by the storm still had power outage for several long hours and even days.
Governor Scott Walker visited Platteville and said, “The duplex just at the end of the side of the house behind me, that`s completely gone — flattened entirely. That`s where at least one of the individuals who was severely hurt was at. The rest of the folks here — bumps and bruises. A lot of folks more than anything now are just trying to figure out what’s next.” The best part about living in Platteville is the community. The members did not just try to figure out what’s next, but chose to do something. Volunteers met at Platteville High School to go out in work sites to clean up the debris and everyone did their part to start rebuilding the community. The people that our community has impacted came to help us. The Bears football team donated money to help fix the stadium and we should be able to finish out our season there. In the face of a disaster, Platteville came together and is stronger than ever.
