Posted on 04/13/2006 10:33:07 PM PDT by hawkeye101
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Witnesses say parts of Iowa City sustained heavy damage Thursday night as a tornado swept through the city. The most heavily damaged sections were parts of downtown and south-central Iowa City. Hospitals report about a dozen people injured, with most injuries not being serious.
The National Weather Service says the courthouse roof in downtown Iowa City is gone, and that the top two floors of a large concrete and brick building in downtown Iowa City have collapsed.
The historic Dairy Queen on Riverside Drive was destroyed. Cars were overturned near Clinton and Burlington Streets. A Menard's Store was heavily damaged.
Witnesses told KCCI News Channel 8 that thousands of college students were roaming the streets after the storm looking at damage. Police tried to clear them from the streets because of leaking natural gas.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen reported that the National Guard had been mobilized for to help local police officers, and that all law officers were on duty and working. Classes have been cancelled at the University of Iowa on Friday.
Steven Donnelly, a University of Iowa student from Urbandale, told KCCI, "We went to the basement really fast. We started to hear this really loud noise and we could feel the pressure drop and could tell it was hitting our house. As we came out into the backyard where the garage was - it's not there anymore - we went to the front where there's a big apartment complex. One of the buildings was ripped in half. It was really messed up. Trees are across the road. Power lines are down everywhere. There was a huge gas leak near our place."
Jake Carpenter, a University of Iowa student from West Des Moines, said he was near the intersection of Washington and Gilbert just east of downtown. He said the side of the Alpha Chi Omega house was gone and he could look inside and see bunk beds on the upper floors. He said cars were crushed in the area, trees were down, and many power lines were down.
In a downtown parking lot, cars were overturned or blown several feet from where they had been parked. Other cars were blown into a ravine. A nearby pedestrian mall had a collapsed roof and a broken water main.
One witness said the roof was blown off St. Patrick's Catholic Church on Court street in Iowa City.
So glad nobody's dead. The rest can be rebuilt. BTT.
What time of day did it hit?
Fox just showed some video stills of at least one Iowa tornado from today.
this is a highly active year for US tornadoes
take a look at this...
http://spc.noaa.gov/climo/torn/monthlytornstats.html
Sounds pretty bad, glad no one killed. Hope the old capitol building is ok. I went to school there. Much has change since then, of course.
The old capitol just reopened last year after the dome was destroyed in a fire in 2002.
The injury count is low now, but it is very early in the reporting. If the damage is as bad as they are saying, it will be a miracle no one was badly injured. Probably won't get more damage reports until sunrise, when helicopters will survey the damage.
ping
Didn't know about the dome, and you're right, there could be injured people they haven't found yet. I don't remember a tornado ever going through the town, although they are ubiquitous in the area this time of year.
Prayers to all. I hope all the Alpha Chis are OK!
Muscatine Iowa was also hit by a tornado (possibly three) with at least one fatality.
1 fatality occurred in Muscatine County, where a tornado toppled the victim's mobile home in Nichols.
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Tornadoes Rip Through Eastern Iowa; 1 Dead
TODD DVORAK and JOE NUGENT, Associated Press Writers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060414/ap_on_re_us/severe_weather
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Severe storms ripped through eastern Iowa on Thursday night, spawning tornadoes that crushed homes and cars and killed one person.
The National Weather Service said the fatality occurred in Muscatine County, where a tornado toppled the victim's mobile home in Nichols. The victim's name was not released.
Twisters, high wind and hail toppled trees and cut off power to thousands across the region. No other injuries were immediately reported.
Residents sifted through debris downtown and in several neighborhoods. "We're in disaster mode," an Iowa City dispatcher said.
At the University of Iowa, which the National Weather Service said was hit by one tornado, students were assessing the damage, including downed trees.
Andrew Loffswold fled his apartment when he heard the howling winds of an oncoming twister grow louder. When he returned, his second-story apartment was in shambles, its roof torn off and its contents turned upside down.
"I'm just trying to salvage anything I can," said Loffswold, a 19-year-old student from Sioux City.
Nine other nearby apartments suffered major damage.
University spokesman Steve Parrott said classes have been canceled for Friday while crews repair the campus and clear debris.
Downtown, severe winds blew cars around, and a roof collapsed at a pedestrian mall, police said.
MidAmerican Energy said about 7,000 homes and businesses in eastern Iowa were without power Friday morning. Crews were working through the night to restore it.
The weather service reported tornadoes in Tama, Linn, Muscatine and Johnson counties, with much of the damage occurring in Iowa City.
Officials were keeping an eye out for more tornadoes in east-central Iowa on Thursday night, Donavon said.
The storms swept through northern Illinois, knocking down trees and power lines and prompting tornado warnings.
At least one tornado was spotted on the ground in Mercer County, the weather service said. Winds of 80 mph were reported in Warren County, where the roofs of two homes were heavily damaged, authorities said. There were no reports of injuries.
Iowa City firefighters inspect St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Iowa City, Iowa, after the part of the roof was ripped off as a tornado struck the city Thursday, April 13, 2006. Several tornadoes that ripped through eastern Iowa left some neighborhoods in disarray as heavy winds and hail destroyed cars, crushed homes and cut off power to thousands of Iowans. No major injuries have been reported. (AP Photo/Matthew Holst, Iowa City Press-Citizen)
Yikes. My daughter lives about 20 miles from there and is a weather something or other. Thanks for the photos. Looks pretty bad.
OMG! We were watching a show about tornadoes earlier and talking about IC and the fact that I was told they didn't get tornadoes there, just thunderstorms. We're moving there in the late fall; I'm going to be working at UI.
The historic Dairy Queen on Riverside Drive was destroyed.
What do you mean "we?"
Prayers for the Iowans.
And, I suppose Rabbi Ovadia, Muhammad Yousef Al-Mlaifi, Pat Robertson and Woodland Hills Baptist Church pastor Wiley Bennet will have to get together to decide what this was God's punishment for. You know, get on the same sheet of music and all that.
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