NWS out in Walworth County investigating possibility of tornado touchdown

ELKHORN, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A team from the local National Weather Service was out today surveying storm damage in Walworth, Jefferson and Dane counties.

"The sirens were going off in town and we thought it best to be in the basement. So, we took the dogs in the basement and wind started picking up and within a couple of minutes it sounded like a freight train," remembered Shelley Sparks

She says just after that, her family heard a loud crash.

"So, I opened up blinds even more and turned on the outside lights and there it was, it was collapsed," said Sparks.

Their garage was completely obliterated.

That damage and more was all being assessed by Tim Halback with the National Weather Service.

"So, we're trying to document exactly where that damage was and how intense it was when it came through," said Halbach.

He visited Sparks, as well as a storage unit company just down the road from her.

Sheet metal on the roof of the storage units were all torn off.

"Well, this is pretty impressive. One of the big indicators is sheet metal getting lofted off of buildings. So, this was one of the big ones that we've seen," said Halbach.

Halbach says when it's dark and tornadoes can't be visually confirmed, they use on-the-ground damage assessment and radar information to determine if one happened.

"This scattered about a mile north of here, which is also pretty impressive too, when you think about tornadoes and the damage it can do," said Halbach.

He says they expect to determine how many tornadoes happened Saturday night soon.

Sparks says for her, at least it wasn't their home, although there was a small amount of damage there.

"Now it's clean up and figure out what we're gonna do from there," said Sparks.

Halbach says the important thing for everyone to remember as we go into severe weather season is to be prepared and informed about when severe weather will be happening.

"It's really important that people are taking safety precautions when it comes to you know when the next round of storms shows up," said Halbach.

Halbach says there's the potential for more severe weather later this month.