(Update) Thunderstorms do damage in Coulee region and across state

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BLAIR - Blair-Taylor High School is closed today, so students and teachers can help clean up from severe thunderstorms which hit western Wisconsin late last night. The school is also providing a shelter for folks who need it.

Authorities said about 30 mobile homes at a park in Arcadia suffered hail-and-wind damage. A barn blew down near Blair. And officials say roads heading into that community are blocked off, so crews can handle numerous power lines and trees that fell.

Wind-and-hail damage was also reported in surrounding Trempealeau County, along with Pepin County. And just to the south, another band of heavy thunderstorms was going through this morning.

The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning until eight o’clock for La Crosse County, southern Trempealeau, and northern Vernon County. Meanwhile, a flash flood warning is in effect until nine in Calumet and Manitowoc counties. That’s after more than four-inches of rain fell in that area last night and early today. The Highway 41 expressway was closed in both directions just south of Oshkosh at last word. And Highway 21 at Omro was closed.

Highways 41 and 21 near Oshkosh re-opened at mid-morning, after the city was dumped with four-and-a-half inches of rain overnight. But just over two-thousand Public Service electric customers in central and northeast Wisconsin were still without power late this morning. Utility crews made some headway, after about three-thousand outages were reported earlier. Most of the late morning outages were in the Wausau area, where 15-hundred customers were still in the dark at last word. Hail of up to a-half inch was reported in a late morning thunderstorm in the Green Bay area. Wisconsin Emergency Management said at least a dozen homes were flooded at Hilbert in Calumet County. In Manitowoc County, Rockwood was cut off to traffic due to flooding problems. Meanwhile, the cleanup continues in western Wisconsin, where 30 mobile homes were damaged at a park in Arcadia, and trees-and-power lines fell in parts of Trempealeau and Buffalo counties. A

More rain is expected on-and-off throughout Wisconsin from now until at least the weekend.

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