WorkShed survives a night of TORNADOES!

[WorkShed]

Hey, all. WorkShed here.

Wow. Tonight was a crazy *** night. The University of Iowa (where I am currently attending for another month) just got hit by a series of tornadoes tonight. Luckily their strength wasn't quite so strong. I'm guessing F2 at the highest, but it definately made a good gash downtown.

I was heading back from a class with my girlfriend (we both are taking Ballroom Dancing as an elective this semester), and we were taking a bus back to the dorms. The bus pulls over and tells everyone to get out because of a tornado warning. I didn't think too much of it because I live in Iowa and we get these warnings rather often, but it usually doesn't mean too much (maybe I've just been lucky).

This one was rather serious.

We took shelter in a big cement slab of a building, hiding out in the bathroom on the ground floor. Some people were idiots and wanted to see the storm, waiting by the huge glass doors that were facing the west (exactly where the tornadoes were coming from). Girls were calling their boyfriends to come pick them up. I quickly yelled at them and told them that their boyfriends could die driving around. Then the girls told their boyfriends to stay where they were.

Good thing to because a tornado hit about a block east of us, carving a path of destruction for a couple blocks. Rach and I went for a walk to see what happened an hour after the storm blew through. Here's some of the damage:

A Dairy Queen was completely destroyed.
An apartment building was broken in half.
A Menards store (kinda like a Home Depot) had its roof cave in and caused many serious injuries.
A Walmart was hit.
I saw a steel drain wrapped around a tree like a ribbon.
Dozens of light poles and street lights were knocked over.
Future insurance claims on many cars.
I saw three cars that were completely flipped over.
Wood beams smashed through cars and windshields.
Surprisingly, I saw a Range Rover that had a bunch of cars crumpled around it, but it only suffered minor damage to its fender. I took a picture of that one and if it turns out, I might think about sending it to an ad agency.
Hundreds of broken windows.
Power was out to maybe half the city.

Quite a crazy night. So forgive me if my Smallville review will be a little delayed this evening.

Thankfully, no one that I knew was injured and my girlfriend and I are quite all right. Our dorm still has power (obviously since I'm writing this) and her car is supposedly fine (a friend of mine lives over where the campus main parking lot sits and he had no damage). So, I'm counting myself very lucky because I know some people are homeless tonight or otherwise injured.

[WorkShed]

Also, Kal-el lives around the area that the tornadoes hit. I'm hoping that he is fine, as well.


Here's the report from The Weather Channel...

Severe thunderstorms erupted on Thursday evening over parts of Iowa will continue to move eastward. Embedded in the large complex of storms were a few tornadic supercell thunderstorms that meant business. One tornado touched down over Iowa City and reports are now stating that there is widespread damage to the downtown area. There are reports of destroyed or collapsed buildings and possible injuries due to entrapment. The hail associated with these storms in eastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin, and northern Illinois have been tremendous in size...generally golfball to softball-size hail. This large thunderstorm complex will move eastward to Indiana and Ohio overnight through early Friday.

Here's an AP Report...

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Witnesses say parts of Iowa City sustained heavy damage Thursday night as a tornado swept through the city. The most heavily damaged sections were parts of downtown and south-central Iowa City. Hospitals report about a dozen people injured, with most injuries not being serious.

The National Weather Service says the courthouse roof in downtown Iowa City is gone, and that the top two floors of a large concrete and brick building in downtown Iowa City have collapsed.

The historic Dairy Queen on Riverside Drive was destroyed. Cars were overturned near Clinton and Burlington Streets. A Menard's Store was heavily damaged.

Witnesses told KCCI News Channel 8 that thousands of college students were roaming the streets after the storm looking at damage. Police tried to clear them from the streets because of leaking natural gas.


The Iowa City Press-Citizen reported that the National Guard had been mobilized for to help local police officers, and that all law officers were on duty and working. Classes have been cancelled at the University of Iowa on Friday.

Steven Donnelly, a University of Iowa student from Urbandale, told KCCI, "We went to the basement really fast. We started to hear this really loud noise and we could feel the pressure drop and could tell it was hitting our house. As we came out into the backyard where the garage was - it's not there anymore - we went to the front where there's a big apartment complex. One of the buildings was ripped in half. It was really messed up. Trees are across the road. Power lines are down everywhere. There was a huge gas leak near our place."

Jake Carpenter, a University of Iowa student from West Des Moines, said he was near the intersection of Washington and Gilbert just east of downtown. He said the side of the Alpha Chi Omega house was gone and he could look inside and see bunk beds on the upper floors. He said cars were crushed in the area, trees were down, and many power lines were down.

In a downtown parking lot, cars were overturned or blown several feet from where they had been parked. Other cars were blown into a ravine. A nearby pedestrian mall had a collapsed roof and a broken water main.

One witness said the roof was blown off St. Patrick's Catholic Church on Court street in Iowa City.

[WorkShed]

Here's some photos already surfacing, thanks to The Daily Iowan. I'll be updating them continually.

[j7wild]

I am glad you are okay; I've been through several hurricanes and a 100 year flood so I know how scary it can be!!

[Kal-el]

Also, Kal-el lives around the area that the tornadoes hit. I'm hoping that he is fine, as well.

I'm fine. I'm actually in Wisconsin working right now. I had talked to my fiance and she said there was 1 1/2 inch hail at our house. I don't know about any damage around town though. She stayed in all night.....

On funny side note (only funny cause she didn't get hurt), she told me that she would call if something happened to her, like if she was dying. I told her to send me a text message cause I'd be at work.....

(Of course, I'm kidding, I love you honey!!!)

[WorkShed]

Oh, man. That's evil.



I'm glad to hear that you and your family are all right.

[st39.6]

few days ago there was 200 - 250 years flood in Czech....that was something! Fortunatelly Prague got hit only by 50-100 flood and city was ready for that, but at east of the republic, there was a huuuge 250 years flood...

I am glad you guyz are ok

[Lafce]

Here's some of the damage:
...

Uh... that must have been quite a night ... I'm glad you, Kal-el and the people you know are fine.

[Jake]

aha, so that's why my parents always told me never to park near trees...hmmm.

Glad you're ok, but come on, where was your camera, where's your World's Most Amazing videos footage huh? safety is no excuse hehe

[WorkShed]

Yeah. I'm definately not a storm chaser.

Ironically, Rachel and I were watching a tornado documentary about two hours before the tornadoes came.

[WorkShed]

Here's more photos, this time from The Official University of Iowa website (here)

[WorkShed]

The Daily Iowan confirms that it was an F2! I called it!

Weather experts joined local and state officials in front of the Johnson County Courthouse this afternoon, categorizing Thursday night's F-2 tornado as a natural disaster in need of a federal response.

Here's more Daily Iowan photos.










This used to be a Dairy Queen!







Here's a map of the destruction...

[WorkShed]

Here's a report from the University station...

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Here's a video someone from the Cinema department put together...

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Here's morning after footage from the destruction on Washington Ave...

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[chernabog_ca]

Glad to hear you guys are okay. I sometimes forget the awesome power of Mother Nature.

[WorkShed]

Here's some pretty good footage taken of the tornado.

http://www.press-citizen.com/graphics/Tornado.mov