While the devastation of the Neenah and Menasha tornadoes occurred in late July, long-term effects have proven disastrous. The storm left ruinous consequences for residents, destroying homes and businesses in its wake.

Sophomore Abigail Wallace saw the personal effects up close and personally.

“Our cleaning lady, her entire roof blew away, she lost just about everything,” she said. “It took her days to find her pets. None of them were injured, but they have complete PTSD from storms now.”

The entire situation had been traumatizing for everyone involved. However, junior Hiba Malik believes that the fallout has brought the community together.

“As a Humanity First Student Organization representative, I went with the Oshkosh Mosque and Humanity First representatives there,” she said. “We went together as a group… we brought donations, we made care kits for women, we made some cooler donations.”

Volunteers and community members have banded together in efforts to help clean up and erase some of the damage, according to Malik.

“We donated a bunch of coolers and we went there and we volunteered with food sorting and we saw they needed a lot of support,” she said. “We sent in our people and some of us went again as volunteers over the next few days to help with the cleanup and also to help with the donation sorting.”

English teacher Abigail Van Eeckhout was shocked by the damage the storm caused to her child care program in Doty Island.

“My child goes to a day care on Doty Island during the school year, and it’s called Lake Edge Learning Center,” she said. “The day of the storm my child was not there; he was home with us, but we knew that it was in the path of the tornado with children present and it did not have a basement.”

Thankfully, tragedy was averted.

“It was an absolutely terrifying experience to know that,” Van Eeckhout said. “Thankfully, it was only clipped by the storm. The entire forest next to it is gone. The day care workers we love dearly kept all the children safe in the hallway.”

The storm wreaked unbelievable destruction, according toVan Eeckhout.

“From what we heard, windows exploded, children were obviously terrified. Most of the children there are under two years old,” she said, “but everyone was safe, no one was harmed. It was closed for about three weeks and we were scared that we would not have child care by the time the school year started.”

Following the storm in early August, the media was filled with reports of the damage. According to Malik, seeing the effects in person was more shocking than anything reported on a screen.

“I saw all of this devastating stuff on social media, but to be honest we’ve been desensitized to all this stuff on social media because we are always seeing all these bad parts of the world and it doesn’t really hit you just on a screen,” she said. “Then I actually drove into Menasha, and I was surprised by all the devastation I saw. Trees down, buildings gone, and I realized the impact, the true impact of the storms.”

Others echoed the same sentiment, sharing that the storm has left a lasting impact on all members of the community, but especially the children who witnessed the aftermath of the storm.

“Even though my child was not there, all of his friends were there and they are all back, happy, talking about the storm cause you just imagine, even my child [at] random times will go ‘where is the tornado,’” Van Eeckhout said. “He’ll ask that over and over again because he’s three and is just trying to understand what that is and what’s happening. Yeah, so we have to tell him it’s not coming back, because he sees the devastation on a daily basis.”

Although the storm took place over a short period of time, Wallace sees the enduring consequences still affecting Menasha and Neenah area inhabitants.

“The impact has been devastating; it’s honestly one of the most terrible things to happen to this area,” she said.

by Raluca Miron

Published October 5, 2026

Oshkosh West Index Volume 123 Issue 1

Tornado trauma leaves lives changed in wake of devastation