STOUGHTON, Wis. (AP) -- Emerging from her basement, Connie Janisch saw destruction all around her.
A tornado had ripped through the neighborhood, destroying homes and dumping parts from three different roofs in her yard. Then she considered what could have been _ the worst damage to her home was two downed trees.
''We're just blessed. It was like God put a protective shield around us,'' she said Friday.
Others weren't so lucky in this city about 15 miles south of Madison. A band of tornadoes and thunderstorms ripped through the area, turning palatial homes into kindling and leaving one man dead after his home collapsed during the storm.
All told, meteorologists believe 18 tornadoes touched down in an area almost 100 miles long, one of the heaviest days in Wisconsin history for touchdowns. In an average year, the state sees just 21 tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service.
Gov. Jim Doyle declared a state of emergency Friday in Dane and Richland counties, the two hardest hit by Thursday evening's storms. The order directs state agencies to help local governments in cleaning up and allows the National Guard to be called to active duty for assistance. He toured the hardest-hit areas by air, offering assistance.
State officials estimated three dozen injuries statewide with one death. About 30 homes were destroyed and more than 200 damaged, and reports continued to trickle in Friday.
Harold O. Orlofske, 54, apparently died of injuries sustained during the collapse of his home in the town of Pleasant Springs north of Stoughton, Dane County Coroner John Stanley said. An autopsy was planned.
The storms began developing Thursday afternoon, with the first reports of tornadoes across the Mississippi River in Minnesota, National Weather Service meteorologist Marc Kavinsky said.
The storms caused extensive damage in the village of Viola, about 80 miles northwest of Madison. Trees were sheared off at 90-degree angles and more than 100 homes were damaged before the storm swept eastward.
Phil Stittleburg, the fire chief from nearby La Farge who oversaw cleanup efforts, said only one person was hurt _ a sheriff's deputy who crashed his squad car while responding to emergency calls Thursday.
Kavinsky said the heaviest damage was in Stoughton, where a tornado left a 12-mile-long, half-mile-wide path. Preliminary reports suggest winds reached more than 200 mph. Tornadoes were reported farther east near Fort Atkinson before the storm began to weaken.
Strong winds left papers, roof shingles and other debris in the Milwaukee area, 60 miles from Stoughton.
Stoughton emergency workers still were cleaning up a fire that destroyed a church and adjoining school earlier this week when the storms hit.
Phil and Becky Daugherty said they crammed into a closet under their staircase as the tornado came through their neighborhood. When they emerged, ''everything was gone,'' Becky Daugherty said.
The seven houses across the street lost their roofs. ''And the next couple of streets over are just destroyed,'' Phil Daugherty said.
Residents in the hardest-hit areas were forced to get passes so they could return to their homes Friday morning.
One of the most devastated areas was a neighborhood of new homes lining the Stoughton Country Club. Some homes still were standing Friday without roofs, while others were nothing more than piles of debris.
At the country club, the roof crashed in on the main dining room as several dozen golfers huddled in the basement for protection.
''I'm out of a job,'' said 17-year-old Travis Miller, who was working this summer washing dishes at the club.
Cynthia Dunlap, 47, was vacationing in northern Wisconsin when the tornado hit. She returned to find the porch, gutters and some siding on her 100-year-old home destroyed, while the barn in her back yard was gone.
Her family was still without electricity Friday afternoon. In her neighborhood, chain saws buzzed as workers cut down damaged trees and dragged away branches from the pine and oak trees that littered the area.
''To me, it's a big loss,'' Dunlap said.
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Associated Press writers Todd Richmond in Viola and JR Ross in Madison contributed to this report.
