LUCK, Wis. — A survey team from the National Weather Service says widespread damage from a storm that ripped through a section of Polk County Sunday night was the work of a tornado.
The EF1 tornado touched down for 5 miles with 90 mph winds, according to the National Weather Service.
That team was on the ground near Luck Monday morning, and their findings likely come as no surprise to a family whose horse farm in Bone Lake was all but leveled by the twister. A barn and a silo are flattened, roofs are ripped off two outbuildings as if with a can opener, and the home inhabited by Maya Monteith and her three daughters is badly damaged. The good news... and there is good news... is that all of the humans and 15 horses made it through the twister unscathed.
Not that there wasn't drama along the way. Monteith's daughter Savanna, Kylie and Taylynn were home by themselves and knew things were getting serious, so the girls sprinted down to the basement. It was a good decision, as two large picture windows were blown out, sending glass everywhere. Half of the roof of the home was ripped off as well.
"It was just raining. We didn’t think anything was going to happen," recalled 17-year-old Savanna Grant. "Then all the sudden outside it started getting really dark and I was like 'OK girls, let’s go downstairs,' but no one heard me. Then all the sudden the window on this side of the house flung wide open and everything starting shaking, and I was like 'OK, we’ve got to go downstairs,' and we run downstairs and she (sister Kylie) has Taylynn in like a headlock running down the stairs."
"Then as we were running into the basement, I could hear the window just CLAP like smash," Savanna continued. "We got down to the basement just in time. The cellar doors flung open, you could just feel the wind in the house... we’re all just huddling together, like holding each other and we’re crying, scared."
Their mother, Mya Monteith, is grateful but is still wrestling with the "what ifs."
"She (Savannna) called me while the tornado was happening. And she was screaming on the phone, 'Mom, where are you? Mom, help.' And you’re helpless," Monteith shared.
"There are no words. You don’t know if they’re going to be OK. Very lucky no one was hurt and our horses weren’t hurt. And the outpouring of help immediately was unbelievable."
"Somebody was watching over us," she said.
If you would like to help the family, a GoFundMe page has been set to help cover the damages.