[Photo: Sun Prairie Utilities journey lineworkers, Jake and Hayden, in Menasha helping the utility restore service after a tornado in July 2026.]
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Sun Prairie Utilities workers have been assisting the hardworking crews of Menasha Utilities after a devastating EF-3 tornado swept through the city at the end of July, helping to restore electricity for more than 80% of area customers in the week that followed.
“Mutual aid reflects the best of public power—communities helping communities when the need is greatest,” said Jill Weiss, general manager of Sun Prairie Utilities. “When Menasha Utilities needed assistance, SPU was ready to respond. We are proud of Jake and Hayden for supporting the restoration effort, and grateful to every lineworker and utility team member whose skill, dedication and long hours helped restore service and move the Menasha community toward recovery.”
After the tornado hit a central part of the community July 27, Gov. Tony Evers declared the area in a state of emergency. Debris continued to hamper restoration efforts as crews arriving through mutual aid started to make progress repairing and restoring the electricity infrastructure. Roads were unpassable as more than 60 power line poles snapped in half, electric wires, tree limbs and materials from damaged homes and buildings needed to be cleared before crews could assess the extent of the damage and begin to restore power.
Mutual aid crews from neighboring utilities hopped in trucks and made their way to the area. It began with a few, then grew to more than a dozen as crews began to set down new poles. Power began to come back on for some customers.
A week after the tornado hit, there were roughly 80 lineworkers from more than two dozen public power communities who had been contributing their help with restoration. And the hard work could be seen, as power was restored to 90% of the area and to 80% of Menasha Utilities customers. In just under two weeks, there were more than 100 crew members responding and 120 poles had been replaced.
Menasha Utilities announced that power was completely restored to customers Aug. 7.
Cleanup is still expected to take weeks. Long-term damage will mean months of work. The city’s water filtration treatment plant was severely damaged and will take some time to either be fixed or replaced. Menasha Utilities staff continue to be in good spirits, despite the devastation, and the whole community has been supportive by providing resources to those who may have lost their home or need water or food. The staff has also been coordinating support for visiting line crews as they spend days in the field to help restore power for Menasha residents.
“We are beyond grateful to have our public power partners here to help make sense of the damage and what immediately needed to be done, in addition to what still needs to be done here,” said Menasha Utilities General Manager Melanie Krause. “We can’t say thank you enough to all those who have responded and continue to support us.”
