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Storm leaves major tree damage on north end of Prairie du Chien last week

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Angie Henderson talks to her insurance Agent, Dean Achenbach, the morning after Wednesday evening’s storm knocked a large pine tree over on top of her hair salon, Backstage Pass in Prairie du Chien. (Photo by Correne Martin)

By Correne Martin

Angie Henderson was in the middle of styling a client’s hair at her salon, Backstage Pass, in Prairie du Chien, when she heard what sounded like a tree branch fall on the roof of the building. A moment later, she and her fellow stylist Katie Goodrich peeked outside to find that an entire pine tree had toppled over onto the salon at 140 N. Wacouta Ave.

A second consecutive day of stormy weather passed through the region Wednesday evening, May 17, as sheets of rain fell, the wind whipped and damage was left in the wake. The majority of the damage included downed trees; St. Feriole Island and the north side of Prairie du Chien suffered a large amount of such destruction. Some trees and large branches fell on houses and cars, roofing was ripped off a number of structures, a couple machine sheds were whisked away north of Prairie du Chien near Limery Road and east of Monona, and a few snapped power lines were also reported.

It seemed the saturated ground was too much for the tree that fell on Backstage Pass. State Farm Insurance Agent Dean Achenbach felt the roots probably just let loose, causing the tree to tip. When it fell, it hit a power line and took down a light pole with it.

According to the National Weather Service (NWS) of La Crosse, pea-size hail fell in Glen Haven, mothball-size hail dropped in Mt. Hope and nickel-size hail struck Harper’s Ferry, Iowa, late Wednesday afternoon. During another round of storms that night, between 7 and 7:15 p.m., 50 mph winds were reported in Bagley and Mt. Sterling, 70 mph winds passed through Glen Haven and Garber, Iowa, and 80 mph gusts were observed in Patch Grove.

The three-day rainfall totals, as of early Friday, May 19, showed Monona, Iowa, as receiving the most, with 2.29 inches, according to the NWS. Mt. Zion reported 1.5 inches and Marquette, Iowa, 1.32. De Soto and Guttenberg, Iowa, ended up with 1.16 and .93 inches, respectively, while Prairie du Chien had .91 inches, Lynxville .89 inches and Steuben .82.

As for Angie at Backstage Pass, she was as pleasant as could be the morning after Wednesday evening’s storm—smiling and laughing as usual. She said she finished her hair style the night it happened before crawling into the attic to assess damage. As it turned out, the tree didn’t appear to go through the roof, so she hoped the damage was going to be minimal.

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