City Times Staff

Randy Schultz received a rude awakening around 4:45 Sunday morning when a passing storm knocked over a 60-foot-tall tree on to his roof.

The property owner, Clarence Hintz of Dewey, who lives just next door on the 2900 block of County Y near Jordan Park, said Schultz called him first thing in the morning to report the damage.

“I just hope there aren’t too many holes in the roof,” Hintz said, estimating the damage, at first glance, ranged in the $5,000 area. “But it could’ve been worse.”

Schultz reported no injuries following the tree strike, which was uprooted by the storm, but said he did lose power — as did hundreds of other county residents — which was finally restored early Monday morning.

Rain and heavy gusts blew through the area during much of the weekend, but it was Saturday night’s storm which left the most damage in its wake.

While Marathon Co. took the brunt of the storm, winds in north Portage Co. were reported as high as 60-miles-per-hour, with some areas seeing half-inch hail.

County parks crews in Jordan Park were also busy cleaning up downed trees Monday morning, also saying a large tree was knocked down at Lake Emily Park. No injuries were reported.