Early last Wednesday, Wright County was enjoying what seemed like a nice fall day. It was downright balmy for mid-December with temperatures approaching 70 degrees. Yes, it was quite breezy, but in Iowa, that is fairly normal. As evening approached, the weather would become very abnormal, and when Thursday dawned, the level of destruction was immense.
According to the National Weather Service, throughout Wednesday and Thursday, there were over 100 severe thunderstorm and over 70 tornado warnings throughout the Midwest. In Wright County, a severe thunderstorm warning and then tornado watch were in effect by early Wednesday evening. By around 6:00 pm, the weather had taken a turn for the worst. The wind was roaring, and the rain was pounding. Almost constant lightning lit the sky and the thunder rumbled, though it was hard to hear it over the wind. Many, if not most, people across the county lost power.
In the midst of the storm, the Bernhardt family, who live just off Highway 69, on 260th Street, southwest of Galt, sensed the severity of the weather. Emily Bernhardt said they were having dinner when the situation became critical. They hightailed it to the basement. It wasn’t long after that her husband, Mark, informed her that their garage was gone.
They eventually discovered that they lost several outbuildings including the one where they were storing Christmas gifts for their small children. Several trees were damaged, including one completely uprooted. Their vehicles had also been damaged when the garage blew away. Their house was standing but damaged to the extent that they headed into Clarion after the storm had passed to stay with relatives. Emily said they were shocked looking at the rubble that was formerly their sheds and garage as they surveyed their property the day after. “It seems like we have had stronger winds out here,” she said, “So we weren’t really prepared for what we saw.”
In the miles surrounding the Bernhardt’s house, more damage could be seen. The Stuart Swanson farm up the road lost several trees. Power lines were down in the area. Gold-Eagle Cooperative’s Highway 69 mill across the road from the Bernhardt’s sustained significant damage as well. More than one giant grain bin looked like a tin can that had been stepped on and caved in.
A few miles to the northeast, Mary-Louise Burt also sat the storm out in her basement on Taylor Avenue. She said that she was indeed worried for her life as the storm and winds raged by. In the aftermath, the powerlines laying on the ground just outside her door caused more anxiety. And even more distressing was the site just down the hill from her home. Her huge 100 year old barn was half in ruins with one side having been blown off.
Wright County Emergency Management Coordinator Jarika Eisentrager said that the damage was widespread throughout the county and mostly rural. She noted that the northeast corner of the county was particularly bad. Thousands of trees and limbs were down, dozens of power poles snapped off and twisted metal could be seen strewn throughout fields from sheds and farm buildings. Winds were later estimated to have been as high as 70 or 80 miles per hour. The unprecedented weather event was later declared to qualify as a ‘derecho.’
Surveying damage to the Bernhardt and Burt properties, one wondered if there was something worse responsible. Indeed, on Friday, the National Weather Service out of Des Moines posted information about what they named the “Belmond-Meservey tornado” that had swept northeast across the county. Preliminary damage surveys indicated the tornado occurred from just north of Big Wall Lake, passed southeast of Belmond and ended after passing through Meservey. Its path length was 28 miles with estimated peak winds at 115 to 120 miles per hour. It was rated as an EF-2 tornado. The Bernhardt and Burt properties were directly in its path.
In addition to the physical damage that the storm caused, the power outages were another major concern. Outages in towns and the rural areas ranged from a few hours in length to days in some cases. In the hours after the storm, Mid-America Energy was reporting that almost 50,000 customers were without power throughout Iowa and beyond and were estimating 36 to 72 hours before power might be restored.
Prairie Energy Cooperative’s members were hard hit as well. Prairie’s CEO Tim Marienau explained that out of 5,300 total members, 3,160 lost power. These members include residential houses but also ag-businesses like chicken and hog facilities and large co-ops like Gold-Eagle and New Cooperative. Marienau said, “The areas around Vincent, Duncombe, Lehigh, Belmond, and Lake Cornelia were the hardest hit, but we had outages and damages system wide.” He added that substations that are owned and maintained by their partner Corn Belt Power Cooperative were also the hardest hit in these areas as well. “Corn Belt lost miles and miles of transmission lines,” said Marienau.
In the hours and days after the storm, repairs and clean-up were a priority. For Prairie Energy, this meant long hours restoring power. “Our crews are dedicated to restoring outages to our members,” said Marienau. “When Mother Nature doesn’t play nice, they endure the harsh elements to keep the power on or restore it quickly. Prairie Energy crews/linemen are ready to respond to an outage anytime, but they may not be able to climb poles or go up in the bucket if the conditions are too dangerous.”
Prairie Energy officials acknowledge their cleanup efforts will not be over anytime soon. Ken Nerem, Director of Operations & Engineering, said, “Even though power has been restored, there is much to do in the way of pole replacements, damaged conductors needing replaced, etc. The employees of Prairie are a dedicated group when faced with a storm of this magnitude. They roll up their sleeves and restore power as safely and quickly as possible. The members of Prairie Energy should be proud of the effort put forth by their dedicated employees.”
As people and businesses like Prairie Energy began their clean-up and repairs, county officials were taking action as well, albeit behind the scenes. The Wright County Supervisors quickly issued a Disaster Declaration. Chairman Karl Helgevold said the decision to make the declaration was based on the widespread nature of the damage and the estimated monetary value of damages. Helgevold said that the county declaration facilitated a state declaration. On Thursday, Governor Reynolds issued a disaster declaration for Wright County along with 42 other Iowa counties.
Eisentrager and Helgevold explained that though the county was declared a disaster, this may not trigger much assistance for individuals and families immediately. With the current proclamation, only income qualifying individuals would be eligible for assistance and grants. However, that may change later if a presidential disaster were to be declared. “The county declaration triggers a whole chain of events,” said Helgevold. “We need to make the declaration to open the door and access funding that may be available later.”
To that end, the county officials said it’s important for people to report damage to their property, even several days after the storm. Eisentrager said people can report their damage using an easy form that’s accessible on Wright County Emergency Management’s Facebook page. She added, “I know we’re Iowans and are used to bad weather and just dealing with it, but it’s crucial to document damage so we can reach that threshold of monetary damages.”
Whether or not a presidential disaster is declared, the people of Wright County, like the Bernhardts, will move forward. They may have lost thousands of dollars of property, yet the Bernhardts are grateful. The response in the hours and days after the storm was humbling, they said.
“The community has been amazing. They have rallied around us,” Emily emphasized. From helping clean up their property to people offering to replace Christmas gifts, the Bernhardts say they have felt the embrace of friends and strangers alike during this trying time.
As people and businesses clean up in the storm’s aftermath, the unprecedented event will not soon be forgotten. Though such an unusual weather event is unlikely to happen anytime soon, whatever occurs, Iowans are sure to band together
