Boy Scouts among dead as 55 tornadoes hit U.S. Midwest
Pastor Dale Morgan
Boy Scouts among dead as 55 tornadoes hit U.S. Midwest*
Reuters - 1 hour 12 minutes ago
DES MOINES, Iowa - A tornado roared through a Boy Scout camp in Iowa and
flattened a cabin where many campers had sought shelter, killing four
teen-aged boys and injuring dozens of others.
Close to 100 Boy Scouts scrambled for safety in shelters at the Little
Sioux Scout Ranch when the tornado hit on Wednesday evening, one of more
than 55 twisters that ripped across the U.S. Midwest into the night.
"We had no warning really at all," scout leader Thomas White said on
Thursday morning. He said scouts were watching the clouds and the
lightning storm when they saw a funnel form in the sky and began to run.
One cabin where scouts sought shelter was in the path of the tornado,
and White said in television interviews that was where the boys died.
"It hit and all the doors flew open and it popped my ears," Rob Logsdon,
15, said. "The walls and the porch and the roof just disappeared. I got
hit by a table in the back."
The boys killed at the camp were identified as two 13-year-olds and one
14-year-old from nearby Omaha, Nebraska, along with a 13-year-old from
Eagle Grove, Iowa.
At least two tornado warnings were issued for Little Sioux before the
twister struck on Wednesday evening.
Hal Emas, 14, said 40 boys huddled in one shelter when a siren blared
and the scout leader shouted "under the table!" "Two seconds later, the
walls blew out. It lasted for about 10 seconds," he told the Des Moines
Register.
Television images showed felled trees and debris strewn across the
devastated campsite.
TORNADO-FORCE WINDS
Boy Scout leader Lloyd Roitstein said the shelters were not built to
withstand tornado-force winds. He said the campers knew foul weather was
on the way and tried to prepare.
But the tornado hit too fast.
Officials said 94 campers and 24 adults were at the camp for a weeklong
training event. Forty-eight people were injured, including many who
remained hospitalized.
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, who toured the site on Thursday, described
the scene as one of utter devastation. "In some ways it is amazing we
didn't lose more lives than we did," he said.
Rescue efforts at the 1,800 acre camp, nestled in wooded hills in
western Iowa, were hampered by downed trees, lightning strikes and heavy
rain. Many of the Boy Scouts, who had emergency training only a day
before, quickly began helping one another.
"There were some real heroes," Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said.
Accidents have befallen boy scout troops over the years, including two
deadly lightning strikes in the summer of 2005, the same year four scout
leaders were killed in Virginia in front of horrified boys when a tent
pole touched a power line.
SEVERAL STATES HIT
More than 55 tornadoes were reported on Wednesday across Kansas,
Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota, some accompanied by baseball-sized hail.
The storms compounded the damage from rampant flooding that has forced
thousands of people from their homes in the Midwest.
In Kansas, twisters killed two people and injured dozens, with 60 houses
destroyed, said state emergency management operations spokeswoman Sharon
Watson.
One ripped apart part of Kansas State University's campus, with damage
estimated to exceed $20 million, said Tom Rawson, a vice president for
administration and finance.
"The damage on campus is extensive," Rawson said. "Roofs have been
damaged or torn off, windows have been blown out in many buildings."
(Additional reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City; Writing by Doina
Chiacu; Editing by David Storey)