More About Parkersburg Tornado

Parkersburg, IA. - Residents here packed what was left of their belongings
Sunday
evening and headed out of a town they barely recognized.
A tornado about a mile wide killed at least six people and took away the
southern
half of the town of 1,900, including its high school, houses, banks and
restaurants.
Iowa Homeland Security administrator Dave Miller said four of the people
killed in
the storm that cut a path from Aplington to Dunkerton were from Parkersburg
and two
were from nearby New Hartford. A fifth person was missing in Parkersburg. At
least
50 people were injured.
"Most of the town has damage somewhere," said Tim Junker, a U.S. marshal.
The tornado was the second deadliest on record, according to Register data.
A F-5
tornado in Charles City in May 1968 left 13 people dead and 450 injured.
Emergency officials instructed all Parkersburg residents Sunday to be out of
town
by nightfall and pointed them to local hotels and schools.
By 9 p.m., emergency crews had checked all of the houses in town once and
were working
to get a head count to determine who was missing, said Rodney Necker of the
Sumner
Fire Department. A second run-through to search for bodies was in the works.
Spraypaint was used on houses and driveways to signal when a house had been
checked.
Miller said at least 150 to 200 houses were destroyed.
The tornado moved between 5:30 and 6:15 p.m. from Aplington to New Hartford
to the
north side of Waterloo and then into Dunkerton, according to Miles
Schumacher, a
meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Parkersburg bore the brunt
of the
severe weather.
Sue Jansen was at a gas station in Parkersburg when the sirens went off.
Those in
the store took shelter in the store's bathrooms, she said. The bathrooms
were all
that was left, she said.
"I think it's going to take weeks to clean it, let alone rebuild it," said
Annette
Freeseman, who lives south of Parkersburg.
Gov. Chet Culver declared Butler, Buchanan and Black Hawk counties disaster
areas.
Schumacher said more than one tornado probably touched down, but most of the
damage
was caused by the mile-wide tornado.
The Waterloo airport reported wind speeds of 93 mph, Schumacher said.
The names of those killed were not released Sunday evening.
This storm system caused the most devastation in Iowa so far this year.
Tornadoes
hit southern Iowa on April 10, causing damage but no injuries.
A spokesman for Allen Hospital in Waterloo said 15 storm victims from
Eldora, Grundy
Center, Aplington and Dunkerton areas were admitted.
There were no deaths, although one person was in critical condition, Jim
Waterbury
said. The Allen emergency room was full.
Other injuries ranged from cuts and bruises to broken bones.
"These people had things falling on them or they were tossed around,"
Waterbury said.
More than 7,500 MidAmerican Energy customers in the area of the tornadoes
had reported
power outages as of 9 p.m., said spokeswoman Ann Thelen.
Some places will still be without power today, Thelen said.
"At this point our priority is making the area safe," she said.
The tornado ripped off the roof of the high school in Parkersburg and tore
out sections
of the building, said school Superintendent Jon Thompson.
The high school will never be used again, he said.
The parking lot at the high school was turned into a triage center, and
district
officials Sunday evening opened up the middle school and an elementary
school in
Aplington as shelters.
By 9 p.m., people could be seen throwing food and clothing into the back of
their
vehicles and getting on the road littered with uprooted trees, power lines
and remnants
of houses reduced to piles of lumber.
People must check in with local authorities before returning to Parkersburg
Monday.