You and me and Leslie ([info]callirhoe) wrote,
@ 2006-04-13 23:19:00
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Current location:safe
Current mood: anxious
Entry tags:disaster, ic

Tornadoes
So after all that gushing this afternoon about how Iowa City is a great place to live (and it is!) -- I was reminded of some of the downsides to living in the Midwest.

I spent most of the evening in the dorm basement. Two tornadoes passed right through our area, and one touched down not far from where I live. I'm fine, and everyone I know is safe, but it looks like there's huge damage to some parts of the city. According to the Des Moines Register, there were four tornadoes that touched down tonight in eastern Iowa:

The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports the worst of the storms struck the heart of Iowa City, sparing most of the city’s north side. The wind, rain and hail made the downtown look as if a riot swept through, the Press-Citizen reports.

The Press-Citizen reports the worst of the damage happened on the town’s east side. The storm completely demolished a Dairy Queen, flipped cars at Dodge dealership and snapped trees in Iowa City. Cars along Burlington and Capitol streets were completely overturned.


There's more in the article that is, frankly, scary. And this article is only accurate up to 9 p.m., while the storm kept on for another hour and a half after that, so I really don't know if it's gotten worse since them. They've kept us inside, so I haven't been able to see any of the damage myself, but I'll go out and look around tomorrow if I can. Classes are cancelled tomorrow -- I'll have some extra time.

There are all these rumors floating around, some probably true, some maybe not. I've heard that a local Menards store's roof collapsed, and a local church lost most of its roof, and a lot of windows were blown out in the downtown. I live about three blocks from the main downtown area, so it's pretty damn close to where I am. All the emergency patrol in the county are supposedly here keeping people off the streets. I haven't heard yet whether there are people injured. I think probably so. I can hear almost constant ambulance sirens outside.

Wow. I think I'm in shock. It's been a long time since a tornado has struck so close to me -- not since I was in kindergarten, actually. Eeee. I don't know what I'm doing. I have to write my German paper.

All in all -- I was scared, and I'm so relieved that my friends here are safe. A big *HUG* to all my flist, and I hope you're all safe tonight. :-)

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[info]polingly
2006-04-14 10:40 am UTC (link)
An enormous thunderstorm just came through here half-an-hour ago; that was probably the remnants of your storm.
Ouch...tornados are terrifying. I hate their unpredictability and...well, how fast they tend to come. There's no evacuating an area for a tornado--the most you can do is flee to the nearest basement and listen to the sirens wail. :(

I'm sorry to hear about all of the damage, but I'm glad you and yours are all right!

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[info]callirhoe
2006-04-14 03:34 pm UTC (link)
Yes, it's scary. I'm calmed down now, but wow, it was crazy for a while. What can we do now but start to pick up and fix the damage? :-)

Thank you for your kind words. *hug*

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[info]dawn_felagund
2006-04-14 02:34 pm UTC (link)
Goodness, Vana, that's very frightening...and I am so glad to hear that you are safe. How scary! My thoughts are with your neighbors who may not have fared so well....

*hugs*

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[info]callirhoe
2006-04-14 03:37 pm UTC (link)
*hugs* Thank you.

There are a lot of people whose houses were slightly damaged, but from what I heard from the Red Cross last night, most people still have their homes. A lot of people are without power (or were last night when I went to bed), but that's just part of life, I guess. :-)

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Thank goodness!
[info]tigerknight03
2006-04-14 02:51 pm UTC (link)
I'm so glad you're okay! I was worried about you and Amber the most. Two of my newest friends and I could have lost them to Mother Nature so soon... You can check out my LJ page for more info that I've gathered, but right now I just want to push forward through my day. The east side of Iowa City by Scott Blvd. is pretty much okay. City High School (my high school) has been turned into a Red Cross shelter. I wish so much I could go and help, but I'll be doing my part by going into work three hours early today, hopefully giving people some comfort and showing them where supplies are and maybe even helping them transport it to their vehicle. At least it's something I can do.

I would probably advise not going out until maybe tomorrow or Monday. I'm sure the emergency crews are having enough trouble right now getting thier job done... But, I'll leave it up to you because I'm sure you'll do the right thing :)

My thoughts are with you, and I hope you with your warm heart and geniousity are able to help others during this rough time. Let it be known that in my entire existance in Iowa City, this is probably the worst storm we've ever had and only the second time in ten years that the University has closed thier doors.

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Re: Thank goodness!
[info]callirhoe
2006-04-14 03:42 pm UTC (link)
Thank you so much, but I'm sorry you were worried on my account. *hug* I'm fine! I did the sensible thing -- stayed in the basement until it was over. I wasn't in danger. :-)

I went down to the student union last night, which is also a Red Cross shelter, to help out, and signed up for an e-mail list to let me know if they're in need of help this weekend. (The end of Holy Week... what a terrible time for a tornado!) I don't know if I'll be able to do much, but every little thing helps, right?

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Re: Thank goodness!
[info]tigerknight03
2006-04-14 05:13 pm UTC (link)
Yes, just donating your time and perhaps even the thought of saving one single life is every bit worth it.

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Re: Thank goodness!
[info]callirhoe
2006-04-14 08:19 pm UTC (link)
I doubt that what I'm doing is saving any lives -- just going around making sure that students know to come to the IMU if they need any supplies or shelter -- but it's helpful nonetheless. :-)

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[info]tigerknight03
2006-04-14 02:54 pm UTC (link)
By the way, I'm almost beating myself because the day before yesterday when I went and took all those pictures, I was going to head downtown...

Now it may be a good six months before I will be able to take pictures of the area...but at least I got some of the area before the storm hit, right? Maybe it can be used as a light of hope to get things back to where things once were...

I was very happy to see that you posted them in your journal. You are simply amazing... =)

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[info]callirhoe
2006-04-14 03:43 pm UTC (link)
*blush* Amazing? I doubt it.

It was amazingly coincidental that you had all these beautiful photos of IC... only a day before the tornadoes... Who could have predicted that?

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[info]tigerknight03
2006-04-14 05:15 pm UTC (link)
Oh, don't be so harsh on yourself. While some people may be getting wasted or ranting about thier cars and perhaps how well the city is handling things (people tend to complain about the littlest things), you're taking the time to make a difference. In the future, you'll look back and say to yourself "I made a real difference for Iowa City." and I'm sure many people will thank you and remember your kindess.

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[info]callirhoe
2006-04-14 08:18 pm UTC (link)
Thank you. I feel like I did make a difference -- volunteering can do that for you. And since I didn't have class or anything, I just feel kind of useless if I'm sitting around not doing anything.

Plus, I got to go out and walk around and enjoy the warm weather. :-)

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[info]atanwende
2006-04-14 05:42 pm UTC (link)
This makes me feel really bad about being so sulky about the cold weather (and the seemingly absence of spring) here recently. Okay, so I'm cold and wet everytime I leave the door, but there really are worse things. I'm so glad to hear you're alright. :)

We're not having tornados over here, and there rarely are any real bad storms, but I can imagine that it must be pretty frightening. *hugs*

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[info]callirhoe
2006-04-14 08:16 pm UTC (link)
Bad weather is bad weather everywhere... you have a perfect right to be sulky. ;-)

*hugs back* It was scary, but now it's just a lot of work trying to pick things up and get organized, so we're all okay. :-)

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[info]atanwende
2006-04-14 09:11 pm UTC (link)
you have a perfect right to be sulky.

Hehe, thank you. It just felt wrong somehow that the biggest question nagging my mind these days was why in Arda I even am owning sandals (what with the spring weather obviously playing "November" and all), when somewhere else there are tornados.

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[info]callirhoe
2006-04-14 10:32 pm UTC (link)
The pressing question on the Heroine's mind is of shoes?

Somewhere, I think Caranthir is rolling his eyes. ;-P

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[info]atanwende
2006-04-15 08:54 am UTC (link)
Actually it's about why I'm owning anything vaguely summer-related in general. Most of the time it's so cold that I keep wishing for a fur coat. ;)

(But to be honest, he's rolling his eyes anyway!)

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[info]callirhoe
2006-04-15 08:29 pm UTC (link)
It's been HOT here in the past few months, so I'm not in the same situation, but I work in a place where it's cold in the summer, so I can sympathize. :-)

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