Devastation in Iowa City Tonight

WOW, JAY! Loss for further words, except to say GLAD TO HEAR YOU MADE
IT and thanks for the rather exciting read.

Ironically, when the tornado was hitting you, my wife and I were watching a
cable documentary on tornadoes. Makes me wonder how may people in the
affected area were watching it when the tornado actually hit.

Anyway, glad you and your family were spared nature's fury!

-c



"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
So I was at our airport commission meeting tonight when the tornado
sirens went off. We had noticed the skies becoming black, but were all
too wrapped up in talk of paving taxiways to pay much heed.

The meeting abruptly adjourned with the sirens, and everyone tried to
find the long-rumored basement in the terminal building. The second
floor conference room, with its two-story windows overlooking the ramp
(and facing West), just didn't seem like a good place to be, and we all
ended up down in the boiler room.

After a while we felt silly, and went up to the weather room, where we
watched the storm developing on radar. When it looked like the worst
was past, I called Mary and made a mad dash for the convertible (thank
goodness I had put the top up!) through moderate rain. Strangely, she
said that if I didn't leave right away, to wait 15 minutes, because the
worst was yet to come -- which didn't fit my radar picture at all.

Well, apparently the TV station's "Live Doppler Radar" is a better
information source than the airport version. Heading toward home, the
hail began. Within seconds it sounded like machine-gun fire, and I
quickly drove underneath a gas station's canopy with a few other
hapless motorists. For the next ten minutes, we watched as
ping-pong-ball-sized hail bombarded Iowa City. The flags were straight
out, the wind was howling, and the temperature was almost hot. It was
very weird, and I flipped on a local AM radio station that was
interviewing a guy maybe a mile away from me, talking to them on his
cell phone.

Suddenly, the flag in front of me dropped straight down. The hail
continued for a minute, but the wind absolutely died. Then it was just
rain -- and then it stopped, too. I was wondering what the hell was
going on, when the guy on the radio suddenly said "Oh my God, there's a
funnel cloud!" The announcer asked him where he was, and he said "On
Benton Street!"

I was on Muscatine Dr., maybe 3/4 of a mile away, facing away from it.

My concern for hail damage instantly gone, I called Mary, who was down
the basement of our home with our kids. I told her I was inbound, and
to raise the garage door. I didn't want the power to go out and to be
stuck outside with a tornado approaching. Racing toward home, flying
down a tree-lined street that offered a limited view to the south, I
glanced in the direction of the reported tornado when, in a flash of
lighning I saw it.

There was no way to judge scale or direction of travel, in that
millisecond flash, but it was big. A giant, V-shaped funnel was
looming over the city, and it couldn't have been six blocks away! In
fact, for me to have been able to see it at all, over those trees, it
was either 50 stories tall, or it was right on top of me!

Suddenly endowed with the driving prowess of Mario Andretti, I punched
the pedal to the floor. I glanced down and saw 70 mph in second gear,
and told Mary to get back downstairs.

Not wanting to look back, I slid to the last stop sign before my house.
Incredibly, with the tornado sirens wailing, hail flying, constant
lightning and high winds, and a funnel cloud bringing up the rear, an
older woman was dutifully driving 25 mph up our road. I suspect all
she saw of me was a candy-apple-red streak...

At last down the basement, with a beer and the kids, we watched the
Cedar Rapids newscasters going absolutely ballistic over the "severe
weather" in nearby Iowa City. Only difference was, this time it was
for real. Reports were soon coming in of damage on Riverside Drive --
the road our hotel is on -- and of injuries inside the Menards nearby.
(This the Menards I've visited nearly every day since we opened.)

When they announced that all off-duty police and firemen were to report
for duty, and that the Army National Guard were being called out, I
knew we were seeing the real deal. I called my night manager, and got
no answer. I then tried his cell phone, but he was busy holding the
door to the airport building, which was at that moment trying to be
sucked off its hinges. I told him to call me back after he got to
safety.

A few minutes later, he called. The storm was past, and he was out
assessing damage, but the power was out, and everything was inky black.
Best he could tell, the only damage was to the fence around our pool,
which was down, a roof vent was gone, and a bunch of shingles were off.
I told him I'd be right down.

That was two hours ago. I took the highway south of town, and was able
to get to the hotel fairly quickly, despite the stoplights being out.
The hotel grounds are a shambles, with branches, shingles, leaves, and
debris of all kinds literally everywhere, but it appears that we got
off easy. Although we received wind damage to the roof, and the fence
is toast, all of our trees survived, and no windows were blown out.

This is almost unbelievable, as just a few blocks away are scenes of
utter devastation. Menards is a shambles, and much of their building
materials are scattered around town. Our airport commission
president's Dodge dealership is gone. His cars are smashed flat, and
his showroom is splinters, with the roof laying across part of
Riverside Drive. We were at the meeting, huddled in the boiler room
together, and now his business is gone.

Down the road from us, our favorite Dairy Queen is simply gone. One of
the signs is still there, but the store itself is just no longer there.
And, being an 85 degree evening, there had to have been a bunch of
employees in there when the storm hit.

It's possible to draw a line from Menard's to the Dodge dealership,
right through the Dairy Queen, and into downtown proper. It missed our
hotel by a few hundred yards, at most.

Downtown is a weird scene of utter pandemonium, combined with the
ambience of an all-night kegger. All the college kids -- 35,000 of
them -- are out partying, surveying the changed streetscape. The roof
of a gas station was lifted up, moved about six feet toward the street,
and then dropped back down, destroying everything inside. Cars are
upside down, and one was evidently sucked off the top of a six-story
parking ramp, and dropped into the street.

It took my son and I an hour to drive the mile from the hotel to the
eastern edge of downtown. Dozens of alarms are wailing, set off when
hundreds (thousands?) of windows blew out. Rubble and debris are
everywhere, with stop lights twisted around light poles, and dumpsters
tossed into the road like tumbleweeds. Fire trucks, ambulances,
police cars, front end loaders, and National Guard vehicles struggled
to get through the devastation and traffic -- and all the while boom
boxes were playing and the college kids were out taking pictures and
video. Some idiots launched a few bottle rockets, and got the police
riled up. Destroyed gas stations are cordoned off, in case of leaks,
and they sure didn't need any fireworks setting off a conflagration.

Eventually we made it out of the area, and were able to get home. Our
garbage -- with six bags of leaves -- is sitting out front, absolutely
unmoved. Not a blade of grass is out of place.

Nature is amazing, and we were so very lucky. Our hangar and plane are
unscathed, the hotel was just nicked a glancing blow, and our home is
fine. There's no word on casualties yet, but from the looks of things,
there almost had to be some.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
So I was at our airport commission meeting tonight when the tornado
sirens went off. We had noticed the skies becoming black, but were all
too wrapped up in talk of paving taxiways to pay much heed.


Hell of a story Jay. We here in Central IL had a taste of that same
storm system. Back home in Lincoln(KAAA - where the plane lives) a
tornado hit the North eastern part of the city which just so happens to
be where the airport is. I rode my motorcycle down there earlier
Thursday afternoon to check on the new canopy cover we had just bought.
The old windows in the 67 Hawk must not be sealed too tight anymore and
while sitting on the ramp it was taking in a tiny bit of water in the
baggage compartment. It was windy as all get out Thursday afternoon so
I tightened the cover and also made sure the tiedowns were tight. Good
thing too.
About 1:30am today I get a call from my aunt and uncle who live across
the road from the airport. After the storm had passed they went outside
to survey the damage and saw a fire truck with lights on over at the
airport. Knowing our plane was sitting out on the ramp they went over
to take a look. They called me to report that everything looked fine,
except our new cover had torn. We were the lucky ones. A Cessna 210
parked 4 spots down had been "moved" by mother nature across the
taxiway and ended a few feet away from a Huey on static display.
Incidentally the Huey's windshield was popped out on the pilot's side.
Dont know if something hit it and popped it out or what. It's possible
that the 210 may have hit it. Looks like the wind T was also picked up
off its pivot and set down beside it.
Anyways, the fire dept. was out there spraying foam on the 210 because
it was laying on the left wing and fuel was leaking. As I left the
airport today they were in the process of jacking the 210 up and
trailering it. Looks like the prop is bent, the left wing tip is bent
and busted up and it looks like the cowling is dented as well. The nose
gear looks to be broken as well. I've posted some pictures on my
website.
You can try this link:
http://www.brockboss.net/gallery/iga...m+damage\&page

We're under a tornado watch right now.
Looks like summer 2006 might be a wild ride here in the midwest!

Brock Boss
SP - N3916R
KAAA

Hell of a story Jay. We here in Central IL had a taste of that same
storm system.
snip
We're under a tornado watch right now.
Looks like summer 2006 might be a wild ride here in the midwest!

Great story, Brock.

I just got home from a looooong day of clean-up. We've got the hotel
looking as good as possible (except for the still-flattened pool fence
and missing roof shingles), but filled our dumpster with debris to do
it.

After picking up the big stuff, we had to rake the lawns to get the
little stuff. The sky must've been raining junk, to spread it so
thoroughly. I'm really glad the pool cover was still on, or we'd have
been digging the pool out, too.

We drove through the formerly closed "War Zones" on our way home. The
National Guard is still directing traffic in the hardest hit areas, and
it's still a mess -- but what a difference 24 hours makes! The
buildings are still smashed, but most of the debris and wrecked cars
that clogged all the roads and sidewalks have been hauled away. Now,
it looks more like a bunch of construction sites rather than the chaos
of last night.

Humans really are a resilient lot.

(BTW: Many thanks to everyone for the many notes of concern Mary and I
have received today. They meant a lot to us...)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Wow...glad you guys are ok Jay. Thanks for posting the details. I
can't imagine what it must have been like...or is like at the moment
with the cleanup and folks sorting life out.


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

Wow...glad you guys are ok Jay. Thanks for posting the details. I
can't imagine what it must have been like...or is like at the moment
with the cleanup and folks sorting life out.

The Governor has now declared a State of Emergency for Johnson County,
which was actually hit by FIVE tornadoes, two of which hit Iowa City,
according to the newspaper...

To see a bunch of pics, go to
http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage and click on P-C
and user photo galleries.

It's a humbling experience to see neighborhoods that look like they
were bombed...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article .com,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:

http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

I like the one of the college kid carrying the traffic light back to his
dorm room.

"Jay Honeck" wrote

It's a humbling experience to see neighborhoods that look like they
were bombed...

Wow! You are one lucky sucker, to have missed that twister, by so little.
I'll add my "glad that you and family are all OK" also.

Any word on what number on the scale this twister was? I'm guessing F-3 or
F-4, from the looks of viewing a portion of the pictures. It could even go
F-5, I suppose.

I hope the whole country gets together, and sends lots of help your way.

Well, I'm sure you will be busy, for a good while. 100% occupancy at the
hotel will be a sure thing, for the foreseeable future, I guess.

Even though I lived in the Midwest (NW Ohio) for over 25 years, I never saw
anything like this in person. I'm only thankful, for that fact.
--
Jim in NC

("Morgans" wrote)
Any word on what number on the scale this twister was? I'm guessing F-3
or F-4, from the looks of viewing a portion of the pictures. It could
even go F-5, I suppose.


A wide F-3 would do that type of damage. You want to see an F-4? Check out
the Comfrey, MN Tornado of 1998. 3-28-1998 (4:30pm). That one still gives me
the willies.

F3 will splinter your house. F4 will wipe the slab clean of debris.

http://www.skywarn.ampr.org/98ma29.htm
Jay's Iowa City tornado damage looks like St Peter's damage from this same
March 1998 storm. Photo links scattered around this site.

http://www.gusties.org/cleanup/
St Peter, MN 1998 (F3)

http://www.sigmamaps.com/StPeter/stpindex.htm
March 28, 1998 (5:20 pm)

Here's mine last year. We hid our cars under a parking ramp that evening.
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mpx/TornadoS...nesota2005.php
Sept 21, 2005 Blaine-Coon Rapids
2 miles long, 50 yards wide path. (F2) Trees, roofs, sheds, signs, etc.

The Siren , WI tornado in 2001 was bad, too. Weather experts will rate the
tornado after studying the area during a walk around. The Siren tornado -
they kept moving the F number up, then down, then back up, then back down.
Don't recall what they settled on? Might be some politics going on - aid
money difference?


Montblack

Any word on what number on the scale this twister was? I'm guessing F-3 or
F-4, from the looks of viewing a portion of the pictures. It could even go
F-5, I suppose.

Actually, they're calling it an F2. Actually, they're calling it TWO
F2s.

Well, I'm sure you will be busy, for a good while. 100% occupancy at the
hotel will be a sure thing, for the foreseeable future, I guess.

Strangely, it seems to be working just the opposite -- we are totally
DEAD. I've received a lot of calls from pre-existing reservations,
asking if we're still in business -- and I think a fair number of
people aren't calling, period, because they think Iowa City has been
wiped off the map...

:-(

Anyone want a suite, cheap? Fly on over -- the weather is GREAT!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote

Strangely, it seems to be working just the opposite -- we are totally
DEAD. I've received a lot of calls from pre-existing reservations,
asking if we're still in business -- and I think a fair number of
people aren't calling, period, because they think Iowa City has been
wiped off the map...

I am totally surprised at that . I would think that there would be plenty
of people who had their houses make uninhabitable, and would be looking for
a place to stay for a couple months.
--
Jim in NC