Midwest Infrastructure and Public Safety

Communities across the Upper Midwest are cleaning up after tornadoes and severe storms this week that destroyed dozens of homes and knocked out power. The National Weather Service logged at least 66 tornado reports across Oklahoma, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Iowa this week. Local reports say dozens of homes were destroyed, including about 75 in one Marathon County, Wisconsin town and major damage to roughly 30 houses in Marion Township, Minnesota. Officials reported an EF-2 tornado hit Lena, Illinois, shuttering the town and damaging schools, though no serious injuries were reported. More than 70,000 customers across the region lost power at the outbreak's peak, with more than 43,000 outages reported in Illinois alone.