It was tense, very tense,” said Kim McCart, who lives on a farm with her husband between Eagle Grove, and Holmes. “I normally don’t get shook by scary weather. It normally doesn’t bother you. But when they alerted about a historic weather event, I took notice.”
They took shelter in the cellar. The storm hit fast, and it hit hard. And when they went to get out, they found themselves trapped. “I think I have to move a bin lid,” her husband had told her, before squeezing out. Sure enough, the top to one of their grain bins had been tossed off like a pop top, and landed on the cellar door. It took a skid loader to move it, so Kim could escape.
Once she did she found her old red barn, which she’d long enjoyed photographing, had been completely oblitterated. Leaving only the foundation. But with most of the contents, oddly, right where they’d been. And the grain bin that had lost it’s lid was crushed in like an empty beer can.
Just down the highway from them, in Holmes, a huge metal garage was utterly destroyed. The roof peeled off like banana peels, and strewn mangled across nearby fields. The 2×4’s that made up the structure scattered about like so many toothpicks. It’s trusses snapped. The force of the wind having been so great it pushed the blunt ends of the framing lumber right through the sheet metal siding.
Casey Premo had a similar experience to McCart. “It was loud,” he said, explaining what the storm was like for him at his home on the outskirts of Eagle Grove. “It was fast, it was over and done in a sec.” And when it was done, so was his RV. Which got flipped over and rolled in the wind like a hot wheels truck. The windows shattered. The whole vehicle was severely damaged. And an electrical pole was down on his truck. And a second camper was turned on it’s side.
This past Wednesday, the 15th, had been an unseasonably warm day. But McCart knew that was a bad sign. “Because being seventy degrees in Decemeber,” she said, “that’s not normal.” Neither was what it would bring when the warm weather was pushed out by a cold front.
By early evening, a severe thunderstorm warning was in effect for Wright County. By approximately 6 o’clock that night things got very bad. Through the night and the next day, more than seventy tornados, and over one hundred severe thunderstorms blasted across the midwest. Hitting Iowa with it’s second derecho in as many years.
The derecho, once a little known and rare event, is also known as an “inland hurricane”. Which is a good way to describe it. The term is taken from Spanish, for direct. Because unlike a tornado, a derecho’s winds blow straight ahead. But with hurricane like force, and often spawning tornados as well. The National Weather Service defines a derecho as “a widespreade, long lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms.” To be classified as a derecho, the storm must leave a swath of damage stretching more than 240 miles, and feature wind gusts of at least 58 miles per hour.
Weather.gov’s page on the derecho details that Iowa might experience one derecho every two years at most. And especially during the spring and early summer. This storm defies both of those norms. And it’s winds literally blew away the 58 mph qualification, at speeds of up to 70, and in some areas 80 mph.
Of the seventy tornados it spawned, one was in Wright County. Dubbed the Belmond-Meservey tornado by the National Weather Service, the tornado was rated EF-2 with wind speeds of 115 to 120 miles per hour, and carved a path of destruction 28 miles long, from just south of Belmond, and through Meservey.
The damage to properties in that tornado’s path, detailed in a related story in this issue by Bridget Shileny, was extensive. And so is the clean-up, and repair efforts. Eagle Grove got off comparably easy, although there was damage and cleanup is ongoing.
Police Chief Ray Beltran spoke of the efforts of officers to assist and patrol during the storm, following Monday’s City Council meeting. “Fortunately we were very lucky,” Beltran said. “We did have some damage around town but we’re very lucky that we didn’t get more damage than what we got. Yes we were down with electricity for quite a few hours, but it could have been worse.”
“The vehicles that were out the night of the storm survived,” said Mayor Sandy McGrath. “Ray had called me when the worst of it was hitting, and it sounded like a war zone.”
“It was bad,” Beltran agreed. “Shoutout to the Fire Department, Robert and his crew, they were out there.” Beltran also called out crews from the Iowa Department of Transportation, and Mid American Energy. Pointing out that the police department was scouting out down power lines and blown transformers, and directing Mid American’s repair crews to each site.
“I think we really lucked out. Head over to other parts of the county, and there’s some major damage,” said McGrath “We dodged the bullet on that one.”
“Our main focus is on trees that are obviously down, you know, on houses, cars, or power lines,” said Bryce Davis, “We’re asking residents that if the tree is on their property to take care of it on their own accord, because it’s going to be a while before we can pick it up off the tree berm.”
“Again, I always like to thank everyone in Eagle Grove. We’re always good at just getting up and helping each other and making sure we get through it,” McGrath said.
