Last night after work, I decided to grab some beer and go talk to our neighbor (next to the store). Sat there about an hour or so before Weather Spotters were activated in 2 towns West of here. After a little while, our Department got activated for Spotter Duty, so I left and went to the station. Chief sent me out 2 miles West of town to a hilltop where I could see pretty good, he and his son went 1 mile South and about half a mile West, and another pair of guys went somewhere else (North? further South?). There was a lot of traffic on the other channels in my radio (more on that later), so I locked a couple of them out so I could concentrate on the County Fire frequency.
Got some wind, maybe up to 60 mph at times, and a lot of rain. Did have about 30 seconds where I could see some rotation in the clouds, but it didn't pull together and drop, so I didn't radio it in....about another 10 seconds of it and I would have been calling it in and moving for a better look since I was almost directly under it.
Was out there from about 7:00 until around 8:30 when my radio battery was dying and the sky was clearing up. Got home and called Dad so he could relay to the others at the Golf Course that the "All Clear" was about to be blown. Got my supper made and sit down to eat it, and talk to Dad (he's home now) about the evening's events. He told me that the Boy Scout Camp over by Little Sioux Iowa had been hit by a tornado, but didn't elaborate any, so I assumed that there wasn't anybody there at the time.
This morning I got on the internet and during my perusal of another message board, I see a headline about a "killer Tornado" in Iowa. Naturally, I read the story as it affects my home state, and was surprised that it was about the Camp and that 4 Scouts were killed, with 40+ other people injured. A little while later, I remembered some of the traffic on the radio before I blocked the channels, and some of it was dealing with the aftermath from that tornado (life flight landing at another hospital and some extra ambulance traffic).
While I am saddened to find out that there were fatalities and injuries from the storms last night, I am happy to report that there were none in our County, even though there were 4 tornadoes confirmed on the ground through the evening.
That part of the country seems to be getting hit pretty bad lately. I just saw a report about a levee breaking. It good to know there are people like you looking out for the welfare of the whole community.
Thanks to people like you Tiny others get at least a warning to get to a safe spot. Good job my friend and thank you.
I saw the aftermath of the scout storm this morning on the national news. :'(
Tim,
Thanks to guys like you, people are still alive. My heart goes to the citizens of your state. They have had more than there share lately.
KyNola
I'm at a loss for words. Wow.
Good to hear you folks make it through O.K. Wasn't sure how far away Little Sioux was from you so was a little concerned after hearing the report about the unfortunate scouts. Sounded like they had a few issues with the early responders but hopefully they will get that sorted out in the aftermath.
Can't say I miss those days.
Someparts of Kansas I miss ... like real weather ... these storms are NOT on the list however. Has been a very bad year :(
Feel for you guys...this year our tornado alley has been very active..the loss is heart breaking...Hang in there!
C
Tornadoes can be scary. I spent 12 months in Kansas. In New York the Tornadoes and Tornado warnings has been on the rise.
Tiny,
I am glad to hear that you are OK. In the news all these stroms and floods have been classified in the "500 year storm" range. It sure does seem that there has been many world wide disasters lately. Any death or injury is a tragedy!
Brad
Flooding is real bad in my part of the state now! Not too bad right where I am at but along the Iowa and Cedar river it is real ugly, they say it is a 500 year flood. Lots of damage and it hasn't even crested in Iowa City yet. Just been a bad year in Iowa so far.
Pictures are on this newspaper page:
http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage
Mark