Tornado Devastates Midwest

By Pamela Mortimer

On Monday, crews began to search through tons of rubble looking for the injured or dead after a tornado destroyed towns in the Midwest. The hardest hit was Parkersburg, Iowa, a town of approximately 1,000 people.

Bob Haylock, mayor of Parkersburg said the tornado that ripped through his town on Sunday destroyed roughly one-third of the town. Officials estimate that the number of dead and injured was reduced due to the use of early warning sirens that gave residents enough time to seek a safe haven.

"Without that, we would have a tremendous amount of injuries and loss of life," Haylock said. "People were down in their basements and waiting it out."

Haylock said that all who perished were adults and most that died were waiting out the storm in their basements.

The original death toll had been announced at seven but a recount of the citizens reduced the number to six, said Bret Voorhees, Bureau Chief of Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Four of those killed were residents of Parkersburg and the other two were from the nearby town of New Hartford, Voorhees said. There were at least 50 injuries reported.

Other residents were being kept out of town which is located about 80 miles northeast of Des Moines.

The storm hit just after 5 P.M. on Sunday, causing damage to Parkersburg and New Hartford as well as Dunkerton, a town located about 50 miles east of Parkersburg.

According to Dave Miller, Iowa Homeland Security Administrator, the storm's death toll was the worst in recent memory.

"It's been a long time since we've had those kinds of injuries and deaths reported," Miller said.

In Minnesota, a vicious storm blew through Hugo, a suburb of St. Paul. The storm caused damage to roughly four dozen homes and has left at least 20 people unaccounted for, said City Administrator Mike Ericson. It is suspected that at least some of the missing residents could be out of town because of the holiday weekend, he said.

Among the injured and dead are a 2-year-old child who was killed; the child's sibling was in critical condition and taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Washington County Sheriff Bill Hutton said. The children's parents also were hospitalized.

"It's horrible," Ericson said. "The citizens are very shook and scared."

According to Xcel Energy spokeswoman Patti Nystuen, power had been restored to most of the more than 15,500 customers by early Monday. Many are located in an area that was blacked out, primarily neighborhoods in Hugo and Forest Lake to the northeast.

Town officials said they were confident that Hugo will be declared a disaster zone on Monday after Gov. Tim Pawlenty is able to survey the damage. City Administrator Mike Ericson said an emergency City Council meeting was scheduled and municipal department heads were expected to meet Monday morning to make cleanup plans.