EF-2 tornado touched down in New Richmond, Wisconsin, NWS says
An EF-2 tornado touched down in New Richmond, Wisconsin, during Thursday evening's severe storms, the National Weather Service says.
There were more than a dozen tornado warnings and multiple observed tornadoes across Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Video captured children on a New Richmond school bus watching the tornado in the distance. A fast-acting school bus driver took the students, as well as kids on another bus, to his shed to ride out the storm.
"I'm feeling a little anxious today, thankful for many things," Carol Ottman said.
Ottman is one of two New Richmond bus drivers who raced to get their students out of the path of danger.
"When dispatch notified us that we needed to seek shelter, there was nothing around us but open fields, and we were close to the path of the tornado that we did not know was coming," Ottman said.
With nothing but cornfields in sight, the other bus driver, Beth, called to see if her own home would be a place to take the children.
"She radioed in and asked dispatch if it was okay if we brought the kids to her shelter on her property, and he said yes, so that's where we went. It was only like a mile and a half away," Ottman said. "I said, 'let's go as quickly as possible,' and they all filed off and went off into the pole shed."
The students were inside for about eight minutes, Ottman said.
"They made the right call," Donovan Sullivan, safety manager with the School District of New Richmond, said. "The order is to evacuate, and you're out in the middle of nowhere. Where is the safest place you're going to go? So, extremely proud of her for that."
Ottman's and Beth's bosses stand behind their work, praising them for doing the right thing.
"The kid's safety is number one, and we made sure all the kids were taken care of," Greg Sayers, terminal manager with the School District of New Richmond, said.
"That was the first time I've seen a tornado out the windshield of my bus, and hopefully I will never have to do that again," Ottman said.
About 50 children were on the two buses. No one was hurt.
According to the NWS, crews are also investigating damage in St. Croix, Dunn and Barron counties in western Wisconsin. There are also reports of damage in Rusk County, Wisconsin.
The NWS says there are also tornado and damage reports in western Minnesota, including in Chippewa, Swift and western Stearns counties. Officials are determining if they need to send crews to survey the damage.
