Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Siren, Wisconsin, Dealing With Aftermath of Tornado That Killed Three

Aired June 19, 2001 - 07:21   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: A Wisconsin community of about 900 people is dealing with the aftermath of a tornado this morning. The town of Siren sits about 15 miles from the Minnesota state line in northwest Wisconsin.

Joining us now live is reporter Dave Hansen of station KMSP. He brings us the latest on the damage there this morning.

DAVE HANSEN, KMSP REPORTER: Good morning, Colleen.

We've seen several twisters over the past couple of weeks here in the upper Midwest, but nothing as bad as this: three people dead as a result of this storm -- that is the latest death toll -- and at least eight people are hurt here in the village of Siren.

Take a look at some of this destruction over here. You can see how these trees over in this guy's yard have basically been lopped right off. He's got his chain saw out right now. And of course, damage assessors and other folks here in town are getting a firsthand look.

Take a look at the power of this storm, how it picks up just about anything and just sprays and tacks it on. You can see the dirt that's been tacked onto this marquee right over here. And as people go down Main Street, there are piles of rubble down this main drag right over here.

And just to the right is something know as the Poorhouse Bar (ph), and actually, when this storm was bearing down here last evening, folks in there decided to take cover in one of the coolers. They just hopped right in and rode the storm out in one of the walk-in coolers in that bar. It is pretty amazing.

The storm lasted for no more than 30 to 40 seconds, but look at the destruction. The stuff is incredible.

The other interesting story that is coming out in this whole thing is that the village of Siren's civil defense siren was actually out of commission last night. It has been out of commission since April, so they weren't able to blow it off when they finally knew that this tornado was bearing down. So the police chief was actually running up and down the streets here, and he was talking on his loudspeaker on his car, and he was, basically, telling people to take cover as this tornado bore down.

Once again, the latest death toll is that three people died in this storm. Those folks died a little farther east of here, out in the county area. But right now the latest is that we have assessors out, and we, of course, have people out checking on some of this destroyed property, to make sure that no one else is missing, no one else is caught up in all this wreckage this morning.

Reporting live in the village of Siren, in Wisconsin, Dave Hansen, for CNN.

MCEDWARDS: Dave, before you go, what did witnesses describe to you? What did they describe seeing and hearing as it hit?

HANSEN: They described a storm that moved very, very fast. One of them said it was like a big, black V that was bearing down on them. We talked to a guy over here just a few moments ago who watched it come in this direction from the west, and he said, Boy, I was just hoping that thing go a little farther north. And lucky for him, it did, because his home is standing this morning.

MCEDWARDS: Dave Hansen, thanks very much for that live update -- appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com