During the week of April 13, southeastern Wisconsin experienced weather ranging from light rain to severe storms and tornadoes. This severe weather outbreak brought repeated storms, flooding and tornado warnings to the City of Whitewater.
At about 1:20 a.m. April 14, the Whitewater area received its first tornado warning of the week. A second was issued at approximately 6:20 p.m. April 17. Throughout the week, the Whitewater area was placed under tornado, severe thunderstorm, flood warnings and watches.
With inches of rain hitting the city, areas of Whitewater were left flooded. On the Facebook group Whitewater Anything Forum, community members documented these severe flooding areas. This was done through a thread of flooded areas and individual posts. Through these posts, user Ron Urick reported that North George Street was closed and the bike trail north of the road had over 20 inches of water. User Stephanie K Covarrubias reported that South Whiton Street had several inches of rain. User Mary-Rose Klinger shared a video of Lot 3 of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus with rainwater reaching knee height.
With the flooding, buildings throughout the city were affected. Community members on the Whitewater Anything Forum reported flooded basements in their homes. On the UW-Whitewater campus, resident assistants for Fricker and Wells Halls shared on their social media accounts that their basements had flooded.
The weather experienced by Whitewater was part of a larger set of severe weather conditions that moved across southeastern Wisconsin. The National Weather Service confirmed that on April 17 alone, seven tornadoes hit the region. Three of the seven were in Walworth County: the first was an EF-1 near the Village of Darien, the second came minutes later in Delavan and the third was an EF-0 the Walworth County side of Burlington.
By the end of the week, rainfall had slowed down and floodwater began to recede, though clean up efforts still continued.
Multimedia Manager Jacob Colvin, Assistant Arts & Rec. Editor Karissa Dieterich and Men’s Sports Journalist Sam Way captured scenes from the week of severe weather.
