'Devastation everywhere' as Parkersburg digs out
Survivors share remarkable stories as Parkersburg digs out
By Amie Steffen, Lee Enterprises | Posted: Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Nora Eggers of rural Parkersburg spent Tuesday morning helping to sift through the remains of her Pastor's house near the high school in the middle of the Parkersburg storm path. Most of the house was gone while some kitchen cabinets and their contents remained intact. (Photo by Rick Chase, Lee News Service)
PARKERSBURG, Iowa -- Trapped under concrete walls, employees and customers at the Pizza Ranch huddled in the darkness and waited.
Some were pinned under the men's restroom walls, the place they had all gathered to escape the whirling wall of a storm that blew right through the restaurant.
Others, like Pizza Ranch shift manager Kim Little, were just uncomfortably immobile.
''There wasn't so much pressure that it was really painful for me,'' he said. ''It was just awkward.''
The large tornado, the state's strongest in 32 years, rattled and battered them for around 20 seconds, according to Little.
Then, darkness - and the sounds of people crying out to be rescued - for 20 minutes.
''We were pinned under two walls,'' Little said. ''I couldn't see anything to the left of me.''
Once a few people at the top of the pile got out, parents started handing their children forward to escape, recalled Little. And every single one of them walked away.
Surveying the remains of the eatery off Highway 57, however, it was hard to imagine how Little, five other employees and 11 customers all managed to survive.
Yet the most greivous injury to come out of the Pizza Ranch were cuts, bruises and a few stitches.
Like hundreds of other buildings near it, the Pizza Ranch in Parkersburg has been reduced to piles of splintered boards, cracked bricks, torn shingles and other debris.
It's only the streets, once swept clean of debris, that led owner Tyann Lester of Aplington to her former business.
She got the call Sunday night from her son, a 16-year-old employee of the restaurant, asking where he should lead everyone to escape the fast-moving storm.
''I said, 'The men's restroom,''' Lester remembered. ''It's the only room in the whole building without an outside wall.''
As the group went in, Lester heard her son say, ''Here it comes, here it comes.'' Then the line went dead.
For a long three minutes, Lester waited. Then, a phone call came in to inform her everyone was trapped. Later, that everyone was out, and remarkably OK.
''It was relief,'' she said.
Now, the lucky survivors pick up the pieces of their own homes while Lester picks through Pizza Ranch's rubble. She's found the cash drawer and employee records, which she'll use to make sure each employee gets paid.
Beyond that, Lester is at a loss.
''It's too early to make any decisions,'' she said. ''It's devastation everywhere.''
Contact Amie Steffen at (319) 291-1464 or amie.steffen@wcfcourier.com.
Tornado state's strongest in 32 years
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The National Weather Service has rated a deadly tornado that leveled half a town in northeast Iowa an EF5, making it the state's strongest tornado in 32 years.
The twister tore through Parkersburg and nearby towns on Sunday, killing seven people and destroying neighborhoods with winds up to 205 mph.
The tornado was the strongest in the United States since May 4, 2007, when an EF5 twister flattened Greensburg, Kan., killing 11 people.
Iowa's last EF5 tornado was in June 1976 in the central Iowa town of Jordan. No one was injured.
On Tuesday, the National Weather Service ranked Sunday's storm as the second deadliest Class 5 tornado in Iowa since 1950. The deadliest twister hit the Charles City area on May 15, 1968, killing 13 people and injuring 462.
Some were pinned under the men's restroom walls, the place they had all gathered to escape the whirling wall of a storm that blew right through the restaurant.
Others, like Pizza Ranch shift manager Kim Little, were just uncomfortably immobile.
''There wasn't so much pressure that it was really painful for me,'' he said. ''It was just awkward.''
The large tornado, the state's strongest in 32 years, rattled and battered them for around 20 seconds, according to Little.
Then, darkness - and the sounds of people crying out to be rescued - for 20 minutes.
''We were pinned under two walls,'' Little said. ''I couldn't see anything to the left of me.''
Once a few people at the top of the pile got out, parents started handing their children forward to escape, recalled Little. And every single one of them walked away.
Surveying the remains of the eatery off Highway 57, however, it was hard to imagine how Little, five other employees and 11 customers all managed to survive.
Yet the most greivous injury to come out of the Pizza Ranch were cuts, bruises and a few stitches.
Like hundreds of other buildings near it, the Pizza Ranch in Parkersburg has been reduced to piles of splintered boards, cracked bricks, torn shingles and other debris.
It's only the streets, once swept clean of debris, that led owner Tyann Lester of Aplington to her former business.
She got the call Sunday night from her son, a 16-year-old employee of the restaurant, asking where he should lead everyone to escape the fast-moving storm.
''I said, 'The men's restroom,''' Lester remembered. ''It's the only room in the whole building without an outside wall.''
As the group went in, Lester heard her son say, ''Here it comes, here it comes.'' Then the line went dead.
For a long three minutes, Lester waited. Then, a phone call came in to inform her everyone was trapped. Later, that everyone was out, and remarkably OK.
''It was relief,'' she said.
Now, the lucky survivors pick up the pieces of their own homes while Lester picks through Pizza Ranch's rubble. She's found the cash drawer and employee records, which she'll use to make sure each employee gets paid.
Beyond that, Lester is at a loss.
''It's too early to make any decisions,'' she said. ''It's devastation everywhere.''
Contact Amie Steffen at (319) 291-1464 or amie.steffen@wcfcourier.com.
Tornado state's strongest in 32 years
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The National Weather Service has rated a deadly tornado that leveled half a town in northeast Iowa an EF5, making it the state's strongest tornado in 32 years.
The twister tore through Parkersburg and nearby towns on Sunday, killing seven people and destroying neighborhoods with winds up to 205 mph.
The tornado was the strongest in the United States since May 4, 2007, when an EF5 twister flattened Greensburg, Kan., killing 11 people.
Iowa's last EF5 tornado was in June 1976 in the central Iowa town of Jordan. No one was injured.
On Tuesday, the National Weather Service ranked Sunday's storm as the second deadliest Class 5 tornado in Iowa since 1950. The deadliest twister hit the Charles City area on May 15, 1968, killing 13 people and injuring 462.
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