Severe storms pound Iowa
Pastor Dale Morgan
Severe storms pound Iowa*
By Mike Wilson, Associated Press Writer
DES MOINES — A severe storm struck eastern Iowa on Friday, flattening
homes in a small town and tossing cars on top of cars at a dealership.
The National Weather Service, which issued tornado warnings, could not
immediately confirm that a tornado had touched down, but some area
residents reported seeing a twister.
"All I can tell you it's bad," said Grandview Mayor Chuck Sorrowfree.
"There's some major damage to several houses, trees uprooted and knocked
over and I mean big ones. It's a mess."
Dozens of homes in the town of about 600 near the Illinois line were
damaged, and some were flattened, the mayor said.
Lucinda Robertson, a spokeswoman for Iowa Homeland Security and
Emergency Management, said injuries were reported in Grandview but that
it was not immediately clear how many were hurt. A search and rescue
unit was trying to rescue someone reported trapped in a house in the
area, she said.
Officials with the Louisa County sheriff's office said everyone in
Grandview was accounted for. Although several injuries were reported,
only one person was taken to a hospital, sheriff's officials said.
Several homes were destroyed in nearby Fruitland and a house was on
fire, Robertson said. Damage also was reported in Muscatine, about 10
miles north of Grandview.
Mark Husar, the general manager of a car dealership in Muscatine, said
he saw a cloud of debris blowing in his direction and quickly moved
employees and customers into a storm shelter.
"I've got 80 cars with windows blown out, two cars on top of cars, my
roof is ripped off," he said. "Applebee's, which is about 50 yards away
— their front window is blown out and I've got McDonald's — they're
about one-and-a-half blocks away — in my lot. Their roof is partially
torn off."
Husar said the ordeal lasted about 15 seconds. Another car dealership
across the street was untouched, he said.
Jim Meltzer, 64, of Muscatine, said he watched a tornado approach from
the south of town.
"It started moving along the ground and we saw a large orange burst. It
wasn't lightning, so we figured it took out a transformer," Meltzer said.
Muscatine is about 30 miles west of Davenport on the Mississippi River.