Unbelievable!

We got a call yesterday from a ward member who needed help packing up and moving. The Tory's live in Parkersburg, but their home was not damaged. They were VERY lucky, since they didn't have a basement to seek shelter in. Damage began just one block away from them. They were already planning on moving as soon as school was out, since Brother Tory was already working in Des Moines and has a home there. Well. School is out--about 2 weeks early. With no power and no water, they decided to just go now.

We drove out, taking the girls and the sister missionaries with us. Although we had seen video on TV, and pictures in the newspaper, we were still not prepared for what we saw.

The above picture is the major highway that goes through town--the debris was plowed off so traffic could resume.

The trees were snapped, and their bark polished off.
And this semi did not make it. We saw, in front of one bare foundation, a pair of chairs, a pair of geraniums in pots, and a pair of crosses. We hardly needed the reminder that this was so deadly!
Some homes stayed standing, some didn't. As we drove by, there was one home with an upstairs' bedroom closet still standing--with a coat still hanging in it!

A few weeks ago, when I drove through Parkersburg, the leaves were just coming out on the trees and the spring flowers blooming in the yards that lined the highway. Now they look like a landfill. Or a war-zone.

We saw some homes on the edge of the pathway that had minor damage. The side of the house exposed to the winds looked like a pin cushion, with all kinds of things sticking straight out of the vinyl siding.

And it wasn't until a map was published in the paper, showing the pathway that I realized that the tornado passed by just about 2 miles to the north of our home. Afterall, Parkersburg is about 15 miles west of us; New Hartford is 10 miles west of us. That made it seem like it was a LONG way away. But the sky to the north of us sure looked ugly.

Our sky had bits of sunshine poking through!

It has been designated an F-5, with winds greater than 200 mph. It stayed on the ground for 43 miles. It passed just north of the Waterloo airport. They recorded winds of 93 mph.