Iowa was hit particularly hard, with one town of under 2000 people losing 220 homes, with seven lives also being lost in the area. The pictures make it look as if the houses were all tossed into a giant blender, the power turned on for a minute, then what was left scattered over the area from which the houses came. It was total destruction for about 1/3 of Parkersburg, Iowa.
This tornado was on the ground for 43 miles, so was able to do a lot of damage. Based on the evidence left behind, the weather experts rated the tornado an "EF5", which means the winds were at least 205 mph. It was the strongest tornado to hit Iowa for 32 years.
This town is roughly half-way between the homes of Gene and Donna Lackore and Keith and Pat Williams. There was no damage at either of our homes.
Tornadoes also hit Minnesota, with one at Hugo, home of Tom and Julee Crever. This note from Julee:"Thanks Keith for caring.....our RV family.....they are the finest! Yes we are fine. Our home is about 5 miles southeast of where the terrible destruction hit.....it is so sad. I will try to send you pictures our son took yesterday helping a very dear, close friend of his, do some boarding up and picking up items at his home which was in that area."
We are thankful that we are safe and sound and pray for healing of body and spirit of those directly affected.
...and so, we learn to hang onto the things of this world loosely, knowing they can be taken away in a moment...in the twinkling of an eye.
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