Mapleton, IA Tornado

[holvy83]

My wife's family is from Mapleton, everyone is ok but lots of damage, reports we have heard is that over half the town is severely damaged. They still have the highways going in to town blocked off so we have not been able to get over there yet. Please keep everyone in this town in your prayers as this will be a long road ahead for those in this community.

 

Mapleton is located between Sioux City and Omaha in Western IA.

[suh_fan93]

That's very sad to hear. Hopefully no fatalities and they're able to rebuild. That really sucks.

[holvy83]

no fatalities, a broken leg sounds like the most severe injury. The initial report is that 60% of homes are damaged severely. Check out Youtube for some of the storm chaser videos, if it wasn't for these guys out there the town would not have had over 10 minutes of warning for this vicious storm.

[jsneb83]

Yeah that was a crazy storm last night. I was driving home from Sioux City after going out to eat and was driving right into it as it was starting to downpour and hail. I seriously thought my car was gonna look like a golf ball, but I didn't see one dent on it. My nephew had his prom at the Marina Inn in South Sioux City and they had to go to the basement twice for two different tornado warnings. I'm sorry about what happened in Mapleton, but luckily nobody was seriously hurt or died. My prayers go to your family and the whole Mapleton community.

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

Here's one video on CNN:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/10/iowa.severe.weather/index.html?hpt=Sbin

[CornHOLIO]

[holvy83]

There was a play taking place at the High School when it happened, a co-worker of mine was there with his family and when they heard the sirens they started to head to the basement. My co-worker being a volunteer fireman went out to check on the storm, he saw the tornado coming right for them and it was big. He said he has never been so scared in his life. He also said that you always hear stories of how it sounds like a train, which is true except he said your standing right next to it and it is going 200 mph.