MONROE - Production is back on at Minhas Craft Brewery after a thunderstorm blew out a truck-sized hole on the facility's north side on 12th Street Thursday, May 30.
"We look a little ragged but we're still operating," said Gary Olson, president of brewery operations.
Workers at the brewery were canning Boxer Lager when the storm forced them to shut down for the night Thursday. About 50 barrels, or 688 cases of beer, were ruined. Minhas has insurance to cover the loss, Olson said.
Minhas returned to production the next morning. By mid-afternoon a crew had put up a temporary cover for the hole, to replace the steel sheets that collapsed in the high winds and torrential downpour Thursday. It also protects the beer storage tank inside that was exposed by the hole.
Olson said Friday he and others are now deciding whether to replace the blown-out part of the three-story wall, or do more.
"We might have to do the whole side (of the building). We're looking at the costs," he said. Closing the hole before hot weather hits is vital, he added. "We're on a timeline to close that up because that's a temperature-controlled room."
The irony of the damages brought by Thursday's rain, which one employee described as gusting "sideways," is not lost on Olson.
"We were planning on power-washing that side," Olson said.
Thursday's storm also ripped shingles off the shelter house at Recreation Park and destroyed signs for World Buffet and the Colony Brands employment office.
Fire Chief Daryl Rausch reported Friday morning that damages from the thunderstorm were mostly to trees.
"Approximately 75 trees had significant damage, along with 20 trees that were either severely damaged or uprooted," he said in a news release. More than 100 trees had minor limb damage.
Several trees pulled down utility lines, and at least six cars were damaged by falling tree limbs, he said. Damages from the storm were worst in the area bordered by Wisconsin 69 to 26th Avenue and Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy to 6th Street.
Dispatchers for the Monroe Police and Green County Sheriff's Departments handled more than 100 calls for service or reports of damage in a two-hour period immediately following the storm, Rausch said.
The highest recorded wind gust at Fire Station No. 1, 601 W. 17th St., was 58 mph. Less than an inch overall fell from Thursday into early Friday, according to measurements taken at the station.
"We look a little ragged but we're still operating," said Gary Olson, president of brewery operations.
Workers at the brewery were canning Boxer Lager when the storm forced them to shut down for the night Thursday. About 50 barrels, or 688 cases of beer, were ruined. Minhas has insurance to cover the loss, Olson said.
Minhas returned to production the next morning. By mid-afternoon a crew had put up a temporary cover for the hole, to replace the steel sheets that collapsed in the high winds and torrential downpour Thursday. It also protects the beer storage tank inside that was exposed by the hole.
Olson said Friday he and others are now deciding whether to replace the blown-out part of the three-story wall, or do more.
"We might have to do the whole side (of the building). We're looking at the costs," he said. Closing the hole before hot weather hits is vital, he added. "We're on a timeline to close that up because that's a temperature-controlled room."
The irony of the damages brought by Thursday's rain, which one employee described as gusting "sideways," is not lost on Olson.
"We were planning on power-washing that side," Olson said.
Thursday's storm also ripped shingles off the shelter house at Recreation Park and destroyed signs for World Buffet and the Colony Brands employment office.
Fire Chief Daryl Rausch reported Friday morning that damages from the thunderstorm were mostly to trees.
"Approximately 75 trees had significant damage, along with 20 trees that were either severely damaged or uprooted," he said in a news release. More than 100 trees had minor limb damage.
Several trees pulled down utility lines, and at least six cars were damaged by falling tree limbs, he said. Damages from the storm were worst in the area bordered by Wisconsin 69 to 26th Avenue and Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy to 6th Street.
Dispatchers for the Monroe Police and Green County Sheriff's Departments handled more than 100 calls for service or reports of damage in a two-hour period immediately following the storm, Rausch said.
The highest recorded wind gust at Fire Station No. 1, 601 W. 17th St., was 58 mph. Less than an inch overall fell from Thursday into early Friday, according to measurements taken at the station.