The path of destruction

Beca Sterling and Andrew Cason were just finishing dinner at their home in Tingley when they heard the winds pick up. They opened the door and saw a funnel headed straight for them. The two closed the door and ran for shelter. Sterling made it to the three-season porch where she crouched in a corner, but Cason never made it out of the front room.

“It was hard wind, silence, hard wind and then rain,” Sterling said. “After, I called my mom. I said my house has been hit. We’ve been hit.” In the aftermath, Sterling saw the wall she was hiding against had been torn completely from the residence.

Sterling is one of many displaced across Iowa and Nebraska after a swath of tornadoes devastated the Midwest Friday evening. The National Weather Service office in Des Moines says, based on preliminary reports, at least 10 tornadoes occurred in their area of responsibility of Iowa, several of which found their way to the southwest corner, wreaking havoc in Union County and surrounding areas.

The twisters in Union County were rated as EF-2′s with speeds estimated at 125-130 mph. They were on the ground from six to 10 miles and ranged between 150 and 350 yards wide. Hundreds were left without power in Afton and many homes were impacted.

“There was so much random popping up of the storms,” Creston Fire Chief Todd Jackson said. “We didn’t know what would come from what. We were running around chasing tornadoes, following a couple.”

The storms in Union County came in two major bursts, the first touching down on Cromwell Road at approximately 7 p.m., headed toward Creston.

Creston

Creston Mayor Waylon Clayton was driving on the edge of town when he saw the funnel coming in. “I started rushing in toward town and was trying to get ahold of some officers,” he recounted. “My fire chief contacted me and had me come in to the station.”

Shortly after 7, calls came in to the Union County Law Enforcement Center of severe damage to Homestead Assisted Living and other homes on West Prairie Street.

Neighboring counties brought in ambulances and law enforcement assistance, including Adams County Sheriff Alan Johannes and Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater.

The sheriffs and their deputies helped Creston first responders shut down access to Prairie Street so residents could be evacuated.

Clayton and Union County Supervisor Dennis Hopkins took point on finding transportation for residents. Hopkins was able to coordinate buses through the school while Clayton reached out to First Baptist Church Pastor Dave Tebbenkamp.

“They were more than willing to offer them up and some drivers,” Clayton said.

First Baptist Church member and Union County Sheriff candidate Brian Bolton was in Des Moines at the beginning of the storm. “I told [wife] Amy we need to get home,” he said. “I don’t feel right not being there.”

Bolton was there with Tebbenkamp to provide assistance on scene. “My heart goes out to those poor people,” Bolton said. “Some of them were confused and disoriented. They didn’t understand what was going on. I can’t imagine losing my home and not knowing what’s happening.”

Residents were evacuated to one of three locations. Those with family picking them up were taken in the church vans to Walmart as a receiving area. Memory care patients and others needing more assistance were transported via Southern Iowa Trolley to Creston Specialty Care. Remaining residents were bused to the Osceola Homestead.

“As Midwesterners, we plan for severe weather, and our staff did an excellent job following our protocols during the recent storm,” Homestead said in a statement. “As a result, no residents or staff members were injured.”

Clayton said he was impressed with the Homestead employees. “They really did a good job clearing rooms,” he said. “It was very awesome to see.”

The Creston Police Chief Paul Ver Meer and officers were also at Homestead and Walmart. “The officers on the scene did a wonderful job on my end,” Clayton said. “It sounds like they did a wonderful job at Walmart as well. It was really cool for me to see how the community wanted to come out in this time and help.”

One of the areas Jackson would like to see improved is the speed of the process. “Probably one of my biggest concerns was the time to get it evacuated,” he said. “That needs to be able to be conducted quicker than it happened.”

Throughout Iowa and eastern Nebraska, law enforcement and other first responders were slowed down by traffic.

Nebraska’s Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson begged gawkers to stay at home, saying he and Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen were stuck in multiple traffic jams while viewing the wreckage.

“And that’s because in large part there’s a lot of looky-loos who are very curious,” he said.

Jackson said having the assistance to shut down Prairie Street quickly was a big help. “When I first drove by, we’ve got street lights in the road and I’m battling other traffic,” he said. “It’s tough because probably half of those were people concerned about family members at Homestead. I get it, but they don’t understand it’s important for us to keep the roadways open to get resources in there.”

Enclosed trailers from Johnson Trailer sales on North Sumner Avenue were picked up by the tornado and swept into the street, blocking Townline Road.

Damage was also reported at the Creston Community School District where the softball equipment shed and batting cages are gone in the wake of the storm. Practice is scheduled to begin Monday.

According to Creston Superintendent Deron Stender, the schools were not structurally damaged. “We are in the process of cleaning up downed trees blocking roadways and walkways and damage near the softball complex,” he wrote in a statement to parents. “All of the walkways and driveways will be cleared and accessible.”

Southwestern Community College didn’t report any damage.

Union County

Union County Emergency Management Director Jo Duckworth said many homes were damaged, but only five were classified as destroyed. “I think we have another four, maybe five with major damage,” she said. “I’ve got another 20 residences impacted.”

In Afton, as the storm raged, power was cut to the entire city at 7:30 p.m. as the substation experienced severe damage.

ITC-Midwest reported approximately a dozen poles and various equipment was damaged during the storm. Original estimations were to have power restored by noon Saturday, but damage to the substation was more extensive than anticipated. At 4:30 p.m. Saturday, residents saw power returned to the city.

The damage to poles also saw the shut down of Highway 34 between Old Highway 34 and 12 Mile Lake Road as power lines and poles crisscrossed the roadway. Union County Sheriff’s deputies and Iowa State Patrol were on scene Friday to redirect traffic. Saturday, the road was opened in one direction. The highway is now open in both directions.

Just north of there, Three Mile Recreation Area was hit twice, 25 minutes apart, causing extensive damage to the Three Mile Lodge, Union County Conservation Office and the attached shed.

Union County Conservation Director Doug Jones was at home when the tornado warning began. He immediately headed to the campgrounds and lodge to warn patrons.

“I’ve been doing this for about 35 years. I’ve notified campers, knocked on doors for rain storms, thunderstorms, lightning. I never thought it would catch up to me, but now here we are,” Jones said.

Most campers chose to ride out the storms in the shower house, but the people using the lodge and a few campers chose to stay at the lodge during the storm.

Jones was keeping track of the storm from the campgrounds where he had the best view.

“I was networking with family watching the radar and I had my police radio on. The traffic I could hear was it was going to come this way,” he said. “It came over the hill, and I told the law center to sound our sirens.”

The tornado appeared to be headed straight for the campgrounds, but changed directions, hitting the lodge, the office and the shop.

“I stayed in the campground until it was over the lake,” Jones said. “Then 25 minutes later the same exact thing happened again.” Fortunately, no one was injured, but the damage may be irreparable.

“I have called all the lodge reservations through November and told them that we would not be open for business,” he said. “I don’t know for sure how long it will take, but I didn’t want wedding parties in limbo and not know. I erred on the side of caution.”

At this point, it isn’t known what will need to be done to fix the damage at the lodge. “I don’t even know if it is totaled or have to be rebuilt,” Jones said. “The office and the shop are going to be a total loss. The shop is completely gone; there’s nothing there.”

Response

On Saturday, East Union students came to Three Mile help with clean up efforts. Monday, Adair County Conservation will be bringing equipment to help pick up larger debris.

“We have most of the cleanup done, it’s more, how are we going to function? Where are we going to function?” Jones said. “You think you’re never going to have to go through this, but we’ll get it put back together.”

No tornado Friday was as big as the one that caused devastation in 2012, but it was the sheer volume of twisters that made this event so catastrophic.

People have come together across the state to clean up their communities. On Saturday, Clayton went out to help the recovery efforts. “I saw county supervisor Rick Friday out there picking up stuff,” he said. “Everyone was coming together, that’s what I love to see. What I saw was a great community.”

Clayton said the event inspired him to look into emergency preparedness training. “I think that’s important,” he said. “I enjoyed helping, but of course I was saddened by it.”

Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn visited Union County Saturday to view the cleanup effort. “Working with Iowans to recover from the tornadoes. Thank you to EMS, law enforcement, linemen and volunteers working to rebuild in Creston and around the state,” he said in a Facebook post. Red Cross was also in Union County Sunday to assess damage.

While no one has yet reached out to EMA for shelter or other types of assistance, Duckworth said residents should call her with any needs. “I can help organize volunteers to help clean up their place. Anything they need at all, I can try to help them with,” she said. “I’m not a miracle worker, but I can try.”

Duckworth requested Iowa Skyview Photography’s assistance to aerially capture the damage and track of the tornadoes.

Union County Secondary Roads announced they will be taking building material debris at the county yard at 1701 Commerce Road.

Bolton and his youngest son Gavin spent Saturday helping around the community. “I’ve always just thought, you jump in, help where you can. I raised my kids that way,” he said. “Terrible things happen in the community and that’s terrible, but if you look for the good you can find it. It’s encouraging and heartwarming to see people jumping in and helping each other out.”