Some of the buildings hit by this weekend’s tornado in Creston are state-owned facilities and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds says it appears the Area Education Agency office in Creston may wind up being a total loss. Dormitories for students at Southwestern Community College that opened just a couple of years ago were heavily damaged. The governor and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds toured the college campus Sunday.

“We actually got to talk to (SWCC) president Crittenden yesterday. She was on the ground with gloves in hand, a pair of jeans, picking up debris,” Reynolds says. “Right now they were working with hotels in the area so they would have a place for the students.” Southwestern Community College is closed today and tomorrow (Monday and Tuesday). A campus building where vocational agricultural classes are taught was damaged. The lieutenant governor says all structures on campus were being checked to ensure there wasn’t additional damage.

“They were assessing the college as a whole,” Reynolds says. “I think they might have lucked out.” While it’s not state owned, the facility which sustained major damage in Creston was the hospital. “The damage that we viewed was really breathtaking,” Reynolds says. “It’s sad when you see the amount of devastation, especially as we toured the hospital — a newly-remodeled wing that was scheduled for a grand opening next week.”

As for other public facilities, the bus barn for Creston schools was hit by the tornado, as was Creston’s Y-M-C-A, which is closed today. “As horrific and as devastating as it was, it is just so inspirational to see the neighbors and the people that come together — it is so Iowa — to help in any way that they can. From the Salvation Army to the Red Cross, I had law enforcement there from Clarke County as well as surrounding areas,” Reynolds says, who is from Osceola, in Clarke County. “There were EMT volunteers from Lenox who said, ‘You know, they were helping us when (two tornadoes) hit us a year ago,’ so people just drop everything and were busy just doing everything that they could to volunteer and help out.” Reynolds was unable to join Governor Branstad in touring damage in the small town of Thurman, where a tornado touched down for 10 miles and left a path a damage that was half-a-mile wide.

(Radio Iowa)

Creston City Council member Loyal Winborn says he and his family had a very close encounter with Saturday’s tornado as it picked his feet up off the ground and he clung to a closet door for his very life. Winborn took a reporter on a tour of what’s left of his home after it was demolished by the twister — which arrived practically in the blink of an eye. “The kids were in there watching NASCAR and the weather radio went off saying there was 70 mile-an-hour winds about seven miles outside of town,” Winborn says. “We were getting our shoes to go over to the neighbors’ house because they have a basement but then my ears started popping, the barametric pressure changed so fast, I felt the house lower and I screamed for everybody to run to the closet.” He says they only had seconds to react.

“We got the kids in the closet,” he says. “Stacy literally picked up Evan and threw him in. I threw Alexander in. Stacy got in and as I tried to get in behind them, my feet left the ground. I grabbed onto the door and was trying push them down. Some random door flew in and hit me on the back of the head.” Loyal said he suffered a concussion from that blow. He realized quite quickly his house was gone and they needed to get out right away, as it was no longer going to be shelter from the storm.

“I looked up and the roof was peeled off,” Winborn says. “All’s I could see was pure white above, nothing, just horrendous noise and nothing but super-bright white light and then it was all over. The house slammed down. It felt like I was 5,000 pounds when I hit the ground on top of them. We didn’t have much time because then, with no roof, debris just started raining inside the house.” He got the two boys and Stacy to his neighbors’ basement. Among the debris they later found inside the wrecked home was a large birdfeeder mounted on a 4-by-4-inch post on the kitchen floor near the fridge.

(Radio Iowa)

The National Weather Service reports a tornado that passed through the far southwest Iowa town of Thurman packed peak winds of 125 miles per hour. The EF2 twister toppled hundreds of trees and power lines. Thurman Mayor Rod Umphreys says all of the nearly 230 residents of the town were impacted in some way. “Probably a little less than 100-percent of the homes have some damage – from a just a few shingles or siding damage to total loss,” Umphreys said.

At least 14 homes in Thurman were destroyed, while two dozen more were heavily damaged. There were no reports of serious injuries. “There were none, I mean, a few bumps and bruises,” Umphreys said. “It’s amazing, because it was a direct hit on a lot of houses and a direct hit on the town. To not have any fatalities or serious injuries, not even a broken bone, it is amazing.” Umphreys is equally amazed with the flood of volunteers who’ve turned out to help with the cleanup effort.

In addition to Iowans, volunteers have come from the states of Nebraska, Missouri, Wisconsin and Montana. “We had over 900 volunteers (Sunday) and we’re well over a couple hundred today already, with more on the way,” Umphreys said. “We couldn’t do this without all the volunteer help and the donations of equipment and materials.” The National Weather Service in Omaha reports the tornado that struck Thurman first touched down around 5:30 p.m. Saturday and covered a path of 10.8 miles from northeast of Percival, through Thurman, before lifting one mile south of Tabor. Fremont County authorities said the only people who required hospitalization were four truckers who’s semis were blown over on Interstate 29. 

(Radio Iowa)

Tornado sirens did not sound in Creston before Saturday’s twister struck, which injured a half-dozen people and caused heavy damage in the southwest Iowa community. Union County Emergency Manager JoAnn Duckworth says she’d been watching the storm develop on radar and had seen nothing particularly threatening for her area until the EF-2 tornado dropped from the sky.

Car flipped onto its roof in the Creston hospital parking lot (B. Lewis)

Creston tornado damage (Courtesy Brandon Lewis)

“In just a few seconds, the whole situation changed,” Duckworth says. “We weren’t able to get out to sound the sirens, there just was not time. When the storm was coming through, nobody would have heard them.” Strong winds came ahead of the storm, knocking out power and knocking radio stations off the air — so no warnings came on the radio either. Cell phones were also knocked out. Duckworth says residents had been told to be on the lookout for severe weather.

“We knew this system was coming in, we’d been planning on it for 48 hours and we tried to urge people to please be aware and to have those emergency plans in place,” she says. Unfortunately, all the preparing in the world can’t stop the actual storm from coming.”

Structure wiped off its foundation in Creston (Brandon Lewis photo)

Damage in Creston is widespread, including to the town’s only hospital and to Southwestern Community College. Six people were injured in Creston, one critically. The town of Thurman was also slammed by a tornado the same day, causing wide damage to dozens of homes.

(Brandon Lewis/Radio Iowa, Creston)

Officials with the American Red Cross and the Southern Iowa Regional Housing Authority (SIRHA), are asking landlords in Adair and Guthrie Counties to call SIRHA if you have any housing vacancies. Residences are needed for persons in the Creston area who were displaced by Saturday’s tornado.

SIRHA is working to get families placed in homes as quickly as possible. Only landlords are asked to call if you have properties available. Please call Brenda at SIRHA, 641-782-8585, ext. 10.