Damage total still unknown after Iowa City tornado
8:15 AM
Posted: Monday, April 09, 2007
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Though largely cleaned up, Iowa City is still dealing with fallout from the storm that struck on April 13, 2006. Construction continues, businesses are recovering and foliage is being planted.
"There will be recovery work for some time," Iowa City Manager Steve Atkins said.
The total damage, in terms of dollars, is unknown -- and officials say it's likely to stay that way.
"Frankly, I don't know that there's a way to ever accurately know," said David Miller, administrator of the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division.
That's because no agency or governmental body tries to come up with an overall number. Instead, individual entities calculate damage estimates for their own purposes.
Iowa City estimated damage to its property at more than $2 million.
Johnson County put its total at about $667,000, with nearly $500,000 for the courthouse alone.
The University of Iowa sustained about $3 million in damage.
No reports exist showing the total amount lost by private property owners and renters. One indication of insured losses is the 345 tornado-related permits, most of them building permits, issued by the city in the year since the storm. The permits total nearly $4.7 million in repairs.
Duane and Fern Allison of Iowa City have first-hand knowledge of the destruction.
The tornado destroyed their enclosed front and back porches and a garage and damaged another garage and two exterior walls of their house.
A year later, the Allisons are finishing some minor repairs, trying to put an exact dollar amount on damage they estimate at $150,000 and figuring out what insurance will cover.
"Were just now getting the final bills on that," said Duane Allison, 71.
A report compiled for the states unsuccessful bid for a presidential disaster declaration showed 1,061 residences and 36 businesses damaged or destroyed in Johnson, Jones and Muscatine counties. The state requested $1.3 million in aid, but that was only for uninsured and underinsured losses.
The U.S. Small Business Administration declared Johnson, Linn, Benton, Cedar, Louisa, Muscatine and Washington counties a disaster area and awarded $2.4 million in loans to businesses, homeowners and renters.
Whatever the total damage, the number is certainly big.
So, too, was the weather system that produced the tornado.
The Iowa City tornado was just one of 15 in eastern Iowa and western Illinois that night, including six in Johnson County, the National Weather Service said.
But the Iowa City tornado caused the most damage because it struck within a city.
With winds estimated at 155 mph, the F-2-rated tornado left a 4.5-mile-long path of destruction.
St. Patricks Catholic Church, one of the main symbols of the tornados power after the roughly 130-year-old church building was destroyed, will construct a $4 million to $10 million building on the citys east side.
The Rev. Rudolph Juarez said that while there's nostalgia for the old Court Street building near downtown, the parish is moving forward.
"We feel like we have a new breath of energy and a lot of excitement around the fact that we are in transition," he said
Perhaps the most amazing thing about the awe-inspiring tornado is that there were no major injuries or deaths in Iowa City.
However, a separate tornado about 25 miles to the southeast struck the mobile home of Christine McAtee, 49, of rural Nichols, who was killed.
Johnson County Emergency Management Agency coordinator Tom Hansen said he believes Iowa City lucked out with the storms timing: It touched down about 8:30 p.m. on a Thursday.
The residential area hardest hit is home to a lot of college students, and Thursday is a popular night for students to go to bars.
"If it would have happened at 2 or 3 in the morning, we'd have had a mess," Hansen said.
Kristin Kapolas was at a downtown bar rather than in her top-floor apartment on Iowa Avenue when the tornado struck. Her apartments roof and three exterior walls were blown away.
Kapolas, 26, said she's not sure she would have heeded the warning sirens and gone to the building's basement if she had been home. "Those go off all the time, and I never really pay attention to them," she said, adding she will better mind storm warnings now.
Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazetteonline.com/
AP-CS-04-09-07 0132EDT
"There will be recovery work for some time," Iowa City Manager Steve Atkins said.
The total damage, in terms of dollars, is unknown -- and officials say it's likely to stay that way.
"Frankly, I don't know that there's a way to ever accurately know," said David Miller, administrator of the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division.
That's because no agency or governmental body tries to come up with an overall number. Instead, individual entities calculate damage estimates for their own purposes.
Iowa City estimated damage to its property at more than $2 million.
Johnson County put its total at about $667,000, with nearly $500,000 for the courthouse alone.
The University of Iowa sustained about $3 million in damage.
No reports exist showing the total amount lost by private property owners and renters. One indication of insured losses is the 345 tornado-related permits, most of them building permits, issued by the city in the year since the storm. The permits total nearly $4.7 million in repairs.
Duane and Fern Allison of Iowa City have first-hand knowledge of the destruction.
The tornado destroyed their enclosed front and back porches and a garage and damaged another garage and two exterior walls of their house.
A year later, the Allisons are finishing some minor repairs, trying to put an exact dollar amount on damage they estimate at $150,000 and figuring out what insurance will cover.
"Were just now getting the final bills on that," said Duane Allison, 71.
A report compiled for the states unsuccessful bid for a presidential disaster declaration showed 1,061 residences and 36 businesses damaged or destroyed in Johnson, Jones and Muscatine counties. The state requested $1.3 million in aid, but that was only for uninsured and underinsured losses.
The U.S. Small Business Administration declared Johnson, Linn, Benton, Cedar, Louisa, Muscatine and Washington counties a disaster area and awarded $2.4 million in loans to businesses, homeowners and renters.
Whatever the total damage, the number is certainly big.
So, too, was the weather system that produced the tornado.
The Iowa City tornado was just one of 15 in eastern Iowa and western Illinois that night, including six in Johnson County, the National Weather Service said.
But the Iowa City tornado caused the most damage because it struck within a city.
With winds estimated at 155 mph, the F-2-rated tornado left a 4.5-mile-long path of destruction.
St. Patricks Catholic Church, one of the main symbols of the tornados power after the roughly 130-year-old church building was destroyed, will construct a $4 million to $10 million building on the citys east side.
The Rev. Rudolph Juarez said that while there's nostalgia for the old Court Street building near downtown, the parish is moving forward.
"We feel like we have a new breath of energy and a lot of excitement around the fact that we are in transition," he said
Perhaps the most amazing thing about the awe-inspiring tornado is that there were no major injuries or deaths in Iowa City.
However, a separate tornado about 25 miles to the southeast struck the mobile home of Christine McAtee, 49, of rural Nichols, who was killed.
Johnson County Emergency Management Agency coordinator Tom Hansen said he believes Iowa City lucked out with the storms timing: It touched down about 8:30 p.m. on a Thursday.
The residential area hardest hit is home to a lot of college students, and Thursday is a popular night for students to go to bars.
"If it would have happened at 2 or 3 in the morning, we'd have had a mess," Hansen said.
Kristin Kapolas was at a downtown bar rather than in her top-floor apartment on Iowa Avenue when the tornado struck. Her apartments roof and three exterior walls were blown away.
Kapolas, 26, said she's not sure she would have heeded the warning sirens and gone to the building's basement if she had been home. "Those go off all the time, and I never really pay attention to them," she said, adding she will better mind storm warnings now.
Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazetteonline.com/
AP-CS-04-09-07 0132EDT
Story Comments
Read More and Post Comments 0 comment(s)
Please note: The following are comments from readers. In no way do they represent the views of The Sioux City Journal or Lee Enterprises. We will not edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain potentially libelous statements; obscene, explicit or racist language; personal attacks, insults or threats. Terms of Service
