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Running Iowa tornado/flood thread

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by NX, May 26, 2008.

  1. NX

    NX Member

    Re: Tornado-ravaged Iowa community needs prayers

    I'm glad this wasn't an F5. But it was about 7/10ths of a mile wide when it passed through Parkersburg and grew to a mile wide later on in its path of just over 40 miles. I can't imagine seeing something like that coming.

    There was a woman who was in Parkersburg before the monster hit, saw the weather becoming more ominous, then headed home to New Hartford - a place also described by residents as looking like a war zone - to ride out the storm. Minutes after the tornado passed, she headed back to Parkersburg to see if everything there was OK. I also can't imagine what it was like to see both of those communities the way you have for years and within an hour see them both in devastation. I hope we can track her down.

    Were you in your house when the barn was flattened?

    Thanks for the well wishes, tbf. I'll call you soon.
     
  2. three_bags_full

    three_bags_full Well-Known Member

    Re: Tornado-ravaged Iowa community needs prayers

    Nah. We were already in the storm shelter, thank goodness.
     
  3. BadgerBeer

    BadgerBeer Well-Known Member

    Re: Tornado-ravaged Iowa community needs prayers

    More on the NFL connection.

    http://blogs.jsonline.com/packers/archive/2008/05/27/deadly-twister-hits-near-kampman-s-hometown.aspx
     
  4. JBHawkEye

    JBHawkEye Well-Known Member

    Re: Tornado-ravaged Iowa community needs prayers

    From today's Des Moines Register:

    Aplington-Parkersburg High School Athletic Director Ed Thomas wants to keep the school's baseball and softball teams in action despite Sunday's tornado that demolished the high school.

    "I'm guessing we'll probably try to maybe play baseball (in Aplington) and maybe softball down by the river (in Parkersburg)," Thomas said. "We've got a couple diamonds that might be able to be used for softball. I think it's important that we play."

    Thomas said it will help the athletes to get back to a normal schedule as quickly as possible. Having something such as a ballgame - a gathering place in a smaller community such as Parkersburg - will provide a temporary escape from the disaster and the rebuilding process.

    "That would be best to keep it in our community if we could," Thomas said. "Every school in our conference (North Iowa Cedar League) has already contacted our superintendent, offered equipment and offered their facilities for our kids to play, but if we can keep our baseball and our softball in our communities, I think that would be best."

    The baseball and softball uniforms are with the players, Thomas said. There has not been a chance to see what other athletic equipment stored at the school can be salvaged, he said.

    Thomas, who lost his house in Sunday's storm, said Aplington-Parkersburg lost its athletic complex as well as its high school.

    "I have no idea what we'll even try to come up with (for next fall)," Thomas said. "You can't even think about what we'll do for a school next year."

    If there was anything to be thankful for in regard to the tornado, Thomas said it was that the storm hit on a Sunday.

    "I just thank God we weren't in school because I don't know how we wouldn't have lost kids," Thomas said.

     
  5. NX

    NX Member

    Re: Tornado-ravaged Iowa community needs prayers

    Yeah, Legg talked about the need to keep the summer seasons on track. Legg figures there will be people who scoff, saying there are more important things to spend energy on, but he and Thomas agreed that it was important to give the kids and the communities an escape and as much of a sense of normalcy as possible.

    There are a lot of people who don't like Thomas around this area. Blame it on jealousy over the success he's had, blame it on the accusations of recruiting, but the A-P school system, and Parkersburg for that matter, is lucky to have someone with the determination of Thomas on its side when facing something as monumental as this. I'm sure there are others coming out of the woodwork just like him.
     
  6. OnTheRiver

    OnTheRiver Active Member

    Re: Tornado-ravaged Iowa community needs prayers

    Everything I ever needed to know about not fucking around in severe weather, I learned from one picture taken after the 1999 F5 tornado in Oklahoma:

    [​IMG]

    Yes, that's a pickup truck wrapped around a telephone pole.
     
  7. D-3 Fan

    D-3 Fan Well-Known Member

    Re: Tornado-ravaged Iowa community needs prayers

    I've been in the office all day and I wanted to get my head together before writing on Parkersburg tonight.

    I grew up in Waterloo. When I was a freshman, our football team drove out to Parkersburg (pre-merger with Aplington) to play the Big Red's JV team, as they were known then. During the game, we had the ball and were in the huddle calling a play, when one of RBs looked up and said, "Yo, is that their coach (Thomas)?" We glanced up and there was Ed Thomas, on the Parkersburg sideline. To us, in a big city, Thomas is a freaking legend and someone we admire the hell out of it. No one has to like him, but you respect the shit out of him. Period. End of story.

    We won the game 14-8 and ended the season undefeated.

    I fully understand and support Bud and Ed's decision to proceed with the season, even if it means working with other schools in their conference to get those games in. Even if it means playing a "home" game at Dike-New Hartford or at Iowa Falls. That's something that the pros could have learned from, but that's another topic for another game. After all, the Girls' Union did tweak the softball season by cutting down the # of games starting this season.

    NX, you don't have to answer this on the board, you can PM me if you feel comfortable, but I'm wondering if you work for the Courier or not? Reason why I'm asking is that I noticed that Nancy Newhoff filed one of the stories from P-burg. What is interesting is that Newhoff, for those outside of Iowa, is the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier's editor. She was named as the first female editor in that paper's history last fall. She comes from a great background (grandpa was my high school's (East Waterloo) longtime FB coach and was Iowa's FB coach, father was a longtime respected DSM Register reporter, and uncle was a great track coach at Iowa City High).

    I asked someone who was in the paper business and still follows it "when was the last you can recall an editor of a major daily here in Iowa, covering a big story like this?" He said it the first time he can ever remember an editor physically going out and helping out covering a story.

    I know that Newhoff's son graduated from my college alma mater earlier on Sunday before the tornado hit the area. I'm under the impression that once someone in the newsroom told her what happened, she headed out to Parkersburg from Waverly without batting an eye.

    I live in Des Moines now, but W/CF and the surrounding area is still home to me. I get chills everytime KWWL shows footage of A-P taking the field at the start of football season. It means the Falcons are gunning for another state title. I have classmates from college who speak glowingly of A-P and what's it like to live in a small town. I'm feel just god-awful for them and their families today. A guy I know, who helped started a big wine festival here in Des Moines drove up to Parkersburg as soon as his dad called him after the tornado hit. He's still up there helping his family, and is taking photo shots for KCCI-TV, on his own time.

    WHO-TV ran a small clip of an interview of Coach Thomas by Sonya Heitshusen on Monday. The look on his face and his voice breaking up did it for me. His town, his school, his kids, and his neighbors are hurting. And he's hurting. This is a guy who is as stoic as any coach I've come into contact with. His life is A-P and it's gone.

    NX, I'm praying hard for you and everyone up there because your were my neighbors when I grew up there and you're still my neighbors, though I live here in Des Moines.

    The Falcons will rise again. That's not even a topic of debate. Parkersburg is a town full of tough mother f---ers. No tornado is going to knock them out.

    Armchair, Thomas' house was wiped out. And it was confirmed earlier tonight that it was a F-5 tornado that touched down on Sunday. The last time a F-5 touched down in Iowa: 1976.
     
  8. NX

    NX Member

    Re: Tornado-ravaged Iowa community needs prayers

    I have a lot of friends at the Courier, a paper with a ton of great people, but I don't work there. I don't know Nancy, though, but like you, seeing her byline struck me. I was surprised to see it, although it seems like much of the newsroom and all of the photogs, especially early Sunday evening, were either in Parkersburg, New Hartford or outside Dunkerton. I didn't know about her son's graduation. Consider me more impressed.

    D-3 Fan, I agree with you completely about respecting Thomas. To do what he's done with a small program, to be as successful as he and Parkersburg, then A-P, have been fall after fall with a pool of players that's not all that big, you have to respect that. It also says something that he's still there when he could have moved on a long time ago. Obviously, he's more than just a football coach and an A.D. Parkersburg is lucky to have him, especially now.

    Thanks for the prayers, D-3 Fan. I'm sure those in Parkersburg, who have just started digging through their lives on a chilly morning for yet another day, feel them, as do those in New Hartford and near Dunkerton, who aren't talked about quite as much, but are still hurting just the same.

    EF5. Amazing, huh? The wife of a friend of mine has her heart set on seeing a tornado sometime in her life. But at this tornado's widest point, there was no way to see around it. There are numerous photos online claiming to be images of the Parkersburg tornado, but they are mostly skinny EF1s. It's sad that people are trying to capitalize on this.

    There are so many things little things about this that are saturated with irony.

    The public radio show "This American Life" re-ran on Sunday morning, hours before the EF5, about a high school prom in small-town Kansas that was going on oblivious to the tornado that destroyed have the town. One of the kids talked about people believing the twister had a component for thought, deciding what to take and what to leave. They even gave it a sense of humor, talking about a house that was destroyed, but inside, a VHS copy of "Twister" was sitting on a table.

    One of the first photos I saw from the Courier's outstanding coverage of Parkersburg - I believe it was by Matthew Putney - was of a VHS copy of "Twister" on a couch of a destroyed home.

    The Discovery Channel has started running promos for a documentary of Greensburg, Kan., rebounding from its EF5 by going green.

    Those are just a couple examples.
     
  9. JBHawkEye

    JBHawkEye Well-Known Member

    Re: Tornado-ravaged Iowa community needs prayers

    Aplington-Parkersburg alum Aaron Kampman makes a visit to his hometown.

    PARKERSBURG, Iowa (AP) — Aaron Kampman came running when he heard that a tornado had destroyed his old high school.
    Kampman, a defensive end with the Green Bay Packers, drove Monday morning with his wife Linde to Parkersburg. That was a day after a tornado packing winds of more than 200 mph ripped through the town of about 1,800, leveling hundreds of homes before moving east, where it hit New Hartford and Dunkerton.
    Seven people were killed and about 50 others were injured, including Kampman’s grandfather Claas, 71. He was recovering in a Waterloo hospital.
    Kampman, a native of nearby Kelsey, said he couldn’t have imagined the destruction he saw when he arrived. But after manning a chainsaw and helping to remove trees and debris, Kampman said residents have to be optimistic.
    “There’s so much devastation, you can’t look at the big picture,” Kampman said. “You’ve got to look at the small victories. That’s been (the residents’) rallying cry.”
    He was happy that his grandfather and in-laws didn’t suffer more damage, or worse, in the storm, but he said he feels compelled to help others who were less fortunate.
    “The Packers are going to do something (to raise funds),” said Kampman, a 1998 Aplington-Parkersburg High School graduate. “This is an opportunity to get as much help (from) all the different circles of influence that people like myself have found themselves in.”
    The proud football tradition in Parkersburg, which has produced four NFL players in the past 15 years, and the lessons learned on the field will serve the community well in the weeks ahead, Kampman said.
    “As a community, this is a tremendous opportunity to draw close,” said Kampman, a two-time NFL Pro Bowler. “It’s easier to fight back-to-back than on your own.
    “The neat thing is, I was driving through town ... and I saw some American flags raised in the rubble. And I saw hope. You saw people hugging in the streets and pulling together. That’s what I’m talking about: Small victories.”
     
  10. D-3 Fan

    D-3 Fan Well-Known Member

    Re: Tornado-ravaged Iowa community needs prayers

    The story on Kampmann was written up by Kelly Beaton from the Courier. A very well done piece.
     
  11. NX

    NX Member

    Re: Tornado-ravaged Iowa community needs prayers

    [​IMG]

    I walked Parkersburg for about an hour this afternoon for the first time since everything changed, camera at my side. Nothing will impress you with the power of nature. NOTHING. And to think it all happened in about a minute.

    The mood was a lot lighter than I expected, but then, I didn't know what to expect. People joking, cutting up. The photo above, one I couldn't resist taking, is a testament to the nearly "What? That's the best you can do, Mr. Twister?" attitude. If you can't read the sign, it reads "For Sale - Open Floor Plan - Natural Light." Shared a laugh about it with some people walking by.

    Kampman talked about small victories in Kelly's story (Kelly is good people). There are a ton of "W"s in Parkersburg's win column.

    I watched a couple middle-aged men start working on the chasis of what looked to be a flat-bed trailer that was embedded into his house...
    [​IMG]

    I heard him say something about moving. I thought he might have been asking me to move, so I asked him to repeat himself. He was looking at my camera and asked me if I wanted him to move so I could take the photo. I couldn't believe while he was cleaning up his life, he was worried about what I wanted. I assured him he didn't need to move on my account, just before his wife joked with me about using a giant nylon Frisbee as a make-shift shovel to carry torn-up insulation. That was Parkersburg in a nutshell.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  12. NX

    NX Member

    Re: Tornado-ravaged Iowa community needs prayers

    A few more from today...

    [​IMG]
    Tigger keeping a watch over what's left so the National Guard doesn't have to

    [​IMG]
    What wasn't found more than 80 miles away is still there, it's just in piles

    [​IMG]
    A man with a cane in one hand and a hoe in the other, going through his things

    [​IMG]
    Notice the ranch on the left, barely touched, while everything else around it is in shambles

    [​IMG]
    Not even deputy's cars were immune. It doesn't look like it, but it was beat up pretty good, and "it fared better than most in town," a resident told me as he laughed.

    [​IMG]
    ... one of those American flags Kampman was talking about. They were everywhere, hanging on anything.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
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