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CNN Live Today

Ladysmith Begins Cleanup

Aired September 03, 2002 - 10:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KAGAN: In northwestern Wisconsin, some small town leaders say that the Labor Day holiday may have saved many lives. A tornado ripping through downtown Ladysmith, blowing apart buildings and leaving dozens of people injured. But, no one was killed in the late afternoon twister that ripped through the heart of the town, and it erupted without a single sound from the tornado sirens.
For the latest, let's turn to reporter Don Shelby. He is with our CNN Minneapolis affiliate, WCCO -- Don, good morning.

DON SHELBY, WCCO CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. You're exactly right about the Labor Day holiday. Just about an hour before 4:30 tornado, this town would have been full of a thousand vacationers and tourists. This is a picture postcard town. Think of the north woods of the United States, and you have the picture of Ladysmith. We are standing in the sanctuary of the United Church of Christ here, one of two of the churches here on Ladysmith that have been completely destroyed. If you look through the window here, 100-year-old stained glass blown out, and as you look through the window, you see a portion of Ladysmith, 14 blocks longs, three blocks wide. That amounts to 42 blocks in a city of 3,900. That means, essentially, the city has to completely rebuild. The part that you see just above the East Highway 8 sign, that is a second story apartment complex. It is gone, as is most of the downtown area.

The downtown area of Ladysmith is really dedicated to kind of tourism. This was an old logging village, and then it turned itself to tourism. About 100 lakes around this area, it is hard against the Flambeau River, one of the most famous rivers in Wisconsin, and about 4:20 last night, a tornado, a very thin, if you will, tornado moved essentially down the main street, which is Lake Avenue here in Ladysmith. And Daryn, there is not much left of the downtown area.

KAGAN: Well, Don, how is it that no sirens were sounded?

SHELBY: No one knows that yet. We have a team from the National Weather Service on their way, not only to find out how powerful the storm was on the Fujita scale, but also to find out what went wrong with the sirens. No matter how advanced the National Weather Service technology becomes, we, from time-to-time, hear that these storms develop out of the clear blue, that you don't see them on the Doppler, there is not an opportunity to sound the sirens. They had been told that to the north, up in Hayward, Wisconsin, there was a cell that might produce tornadoes, but that is a long way away, and it is just a miracle, if you will, that nobody was killed here, and perhaps it was because it had such a narrow path when it struck, and because, on labor day, lots of folks were either not here, going away from the tourist trap, to another haunt that they might frequent, and because the people who were here were on their way back home.

KAGAN: Well, looks like there is much, much cleanup and rebuilding to do, but in terms of loss of life, the folks in Ladysmith are very lucky today and yesterday.

SHELBY: Yes, everybody is very fortunate. The mayor of the city, Marty Reynolds was rebuilding a bed and breakfast, the water tower for Ladysmith fell on top his house, flooded it, but he said -- Daryn, he said it is a good day in Ladysmith, Wisconsin. He meant that because they lost no lives.

KAGAN: Good perspective. Don Shelby from WCCO. Thanks for the report today, appreciate it.

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