The Pietig Family: July 2011

Last Monday morning we awoke to our weather radio going off. It was about 4 AM. I heard it say that there was a tornado warning for Marshall county and I remember mumbling, "Are you serious?" So, we got Payton and Relay and some flashlights and headed downstairs to the utility room. We weren't down there for too long before the power went off. I usually don't get too scared in tornado warnings, but ever since the Parkersburg tornado, I definitely take them more seriously! Chad's brother and his family live in Parkersburg and thankfully their house wasn't hit by that tornado, but it was certainly devasting for the entire town. Anyway, I remember sitting there hearing a noise and Chad got a worried look on his face. I asked him what the noise was and he said, "Oh, nothing." (I found out later that the noise he heard was part of our tree falling, but he didn't say anything because he didn't want to worry me.) After the warning expired, we came up to check out the damage. We looked out our big picture window to see half our tree lying in the backyard. Chad went out with the flashlight to inspect (as well as all our neighbors). Once the sun came out, you could see that we were definitely hit hard by this storm. Chad spent that afternoon and the entire next day cleaning up and making several trips to the compost pile. We were lucky that our power was only off for about 12 hours. It ended up coming back on around 4 that afternoon. Lots of others in town were without power for 3 or 4 days! We still have some limbs hanging, so we'll need to get that taken care of. Our insurance won't cover it since the tree is not on the house or blocking the gargage. We got an estimate from a tree service in town: $500-$800!! That is just crazy! Oh well, I guess things could have been much worse. All in all, we are lucky that's all the damage we had.

Here is an article I took from the T-R. It sums up the damage from the surrounding areas.

A breakdown of damage in the Times-Republican’s coverage area

July 16, 2011

By KEN BLACK - Staff Writer

While most of the area has had power restored, here is a brief breakdown of the damage in Marshalltown and surrounding communities.

Despite the property damage, no injuries were reported. The list below is not a comprehensive look at all of the damage, but a general overview of what many towns experienced.

Marshalltown

Power out in some areas for several days, but most restored by Friday. Some homes and buildings had structural damage, either directly from the wind or falling trees. Corn was damaged at farm fields surrounding Marshalltown. Street lights were also down several days.

Green Mountain

In one of the hardest hit areas in Marshall County, Green Mountain sustained heavy damage at the grain elevator. Some of the silos lay in ruin, a mangled mess of steel that looks almost like it was crushed as easily as an aluminum pop can. Power was still out Thursday afternoon, but was supposed to be restored some time Thursday evening. The wind caused structural damage to a number of homes as well.

Melbourne

Downed trees caused damage to a number of homes in Melbourne. Residents spent much of the week cleaning up. Power was restored Tuesday night for a good portion of town.

Laurel

A garage in Laurel was flattened by a tree, but many others in the area also had damage from falling trees, including a tree on at least one home. Outside of Laurel, extensive damage was done to trees on farmsteads and corn in the fields.

Le Grand

Most of the problem in Le Grand came from fallen trees as well. Alliant Energy crews spent most of the day Monday repairing lines and checking each street in the community for damage.

Garwin

In all of the Times-Republican's coverage area, Garwin was ground zero. Some homes were nearly flattened and there was significant structural damage to many buildings. Entire roofs disappeared and the town was evacuated for part of the day Monday due to a gas leak.

Tama/Toledo

The roof of Scharnweber, located on Highway 63, was blown off the building, causing extensive damage. Streets had many downed tree limbs in the aftermath of the storm.

Rural Areas

From southwestern Marshall County through the middle section of Tama County, the rural areas received a great deal of damage. There were many downed power lines, along with machine sheds, barns and all sorts of other debris. Crop damage was potentially very catastrophic in some areas, especially if the corn is not able to recover.

Tama County Economic Development contributed to this report.