Severe weather cuts Wisconsin church camp short but alternative continues
Frighteningly severe weather in northern Wisconsin cut a five-day church camp experience short, but officials with The Chapel in Grayslake rebounded Monday with an alternative for hundreds of middle school students.
On Friday afternoon, more than 200 middle school students from Lake County arrived at Silver Birch Ranch in White Lake, Wisconsin, about 90 minutes northwest of Green Bay, The Chapel's summer camp location for nine years.
They had just settled into cabins, finished dinner and were in the first chapel session when the power went out, according to Reed Paul of The Chapel.
"The storm was anticipated and prepared for but hit faster and stronger than predictions," he said. High winds downed trees and limbs, and scattered debris in an event that lasted about 20 minutes.
"It felt like we walked into a community that had experienced a strong tornado," he said of the aftermath.
According to news reports, destructive storms included as many as nine tornadoes Friday night into Saturday morning. More than 101,000 customers were without power and thousands were still without power on Monday.
Power as well as plumbing were out at Silver Birch Ranch on Friday night, hundreds of trees were felled and several buildings and activity areas damaged.
No one was injured, but 10 to 15 vehicles sustained damage, some extensive, Paul said. Transport was arranged and campers left late Saturday afternoon and arrived in Lake County about midnight.
By then, plans already were in the works for an alternative day camp to be held from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and offered at no cost for every middle school student in Lake County at The Chapel's Grayslake campus on Route 60 just west of Wilson Road.
"We are busing in students from all of our campuses and campers have been inviting their friends, neighbors and classmates," Paul said Monday. More than 200 students from 42 communities attended Monday, he added.
The alternative "camp" includes bounce houses, a photo booth, volleyball, yard games and a snack canteen. All high school students and parents of both middle and high school students are invited to participate in the evening sessions from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.