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Lincoln County Hit by Storms as Fair Opens

WAOW Television

Lincoln County got hit hard with severe weather just as its county fair was starting up Wednesday afternoon.

Backyards and streets were flooded and trees could be seen toppled over, but witnesses say most of the rain was gone before too long.

One man says he was teaching someone how to drive a school bus during the storm, and he’s not sure if he’s ever seen as much rainwater in such a short amount of time.

"When we went across Mill (Street), the water was somewhere between 8-12 inches deep within a half block. I was making waves and my license plate bent up at a really strange angle because of the water pressure coming off the vehicle," Michael W. Ahoske of Merrill said.

While that was going on, the Lincoln County Fairgrounds’ parking lot was covered in water.

A fair official says she was a little nervous throughout the early stages.

"We all went to the Expo Center, we all had to hide in the bathrooms, because (the fair’s) protocol is that's where they're safest. The kids were all great, we had adults too, anybody that wanted to come there to be safe, and a lot of people did because it did get scary,” Lincoln County Fair Administrator Cindi Christiansen said.

Despite the severe weather, the fair’s festivities were not interrupted. 

Christiansen says she hopes for fewer distractions through the rest of their time this week.

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