Floor Statement of U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
F-5 Tornado Slams Northeast Iowa on May 25, 2008
Hope and Heroes Among the Hurt
To view the speech in its entirety click http://www.criticalmention.com/report/5032x23698.htm
Mr. President, today I want to pay tribute to the victims of the devastating tornado that ripped through Northeast Iowa a week ago Sunday. Memorial Day weekend traditionally launches the summer season with tributes to veterans, backyard barbeques and swimming pools opening for business.
But on the evening of May 25, 2008, Mother Nature instead unleashed a tragic beginning to summer. It was the kind of natural disaster that makes people realize the perils of pettiness and appreciate what really matters the most.
A history-making twister produced winds in excess of 200 miles per hour. It tore across Butler, Black Hawk, Delaware and Buchanan counties. It paved a 43-mile path of destruction. The severe storm system virtually ripped the town of Parkersburg in half. It destroyed 22 businesses, leveled 222 homes, and damaged 408 others in a community of only 2,000. The storm system injured 70 people. The fatalities attributed to the tornado have risen now to eight Iowans.
But the statistics don’t do justice to the heartbreak and to the hurt.
Mr. President, natural disasters have wrought havoc on humanity since the beginning of time. In recent years, the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia claimed more than 100,000 lives and displaced millions of victims from their homes. In September 2005, a Category 5 hurricane ravaged America’s Gulf Coast, causing $11.3 billion in damage. Last year in Greensburg, Kansas, a tornado leveled the entire community of 1,400, causing an estimated $267 million in damage.
The financial estimate of damage from the May 25 tornado, storms and flooding hasn’t been calculated. But the price tag won’t do justice to the heartbreak and hurt.
Whether it’s an earthquake, hurricane or tornado, a natural disaster leaves behind massive debris and destruction. The physical and financial tolls shouldered by the victims arguably pale compared to the emotional scars and personal losses left in the aftermath of a killer natural disaster.
This tornado was an F-5 tornado, the worst that they get. It struck terror into the hearts and minds of Northeast Iowans over Memorial Day weekend and it hit close to home, too. From my own yard in New Hartford, I watched the dark storm clouds blacken the sky as the tornado made its way across Butler County from Parkersburg, population about 2,000, to my hometown of New Hartford, population 600.
It was the first F-5 tornado to strike Iowa since 1976. Tornadoes like this don’t happen every day in my state. And it was the deadliest in the state since 1968 in Charles City, Iowa. In some ways, the storm may serve as a wake-up call to those of us who have become somewhat complacent about severe weather warnings.
The day after the storm, I visited with residents in Parkersburg and New Hartford and toured the damages. Senator Harkin was there. Governor Culver was there. Representative Braley was there. It was an unimaginable scene. In Parkersburg, the tornado ripped apart the Aplington-Parkersburg High School. This is a picture of that devastating damage. It will cost $14 million to rebuild. They were well insured I was told. It destroyed the Parkersburg City Hall, crushed the town’s only gas station, and crumbled the grocery store. That night seven people sought refuge, and survived, in the produce cooler as the tornado ripped through town. If you watched CNN you could see cameras from the bank that showed the tornado sucking everything up. People in Prarie du Chien have even received some of the wreckage and are working on bringing it back to Parkersburg sometime soon.
In only a few minutes, the mile-wide tornado wiped away a lifetime of treasured belongings, furniture and family memorabilia. There are no parts of homes around. It’s only sticks, uprooted trees, mangled vehicles, killed livestock, ripped away roofs and walls and mowed down neighborhoods. It shredded solidly built homes like toothpicks and knocked out the city’s infrastructure.
I saw the debris. There were 60,000 tons in Parkersburg alone left behind in the wake of the tornado. I suppose that’s a rough estimate. This picture of the high school behind me doesn’t begin to capture the wreckage, but it’s a small glimpse. It’s nearly inconceivable to understand the awesome force of Mother Nature. Thankfully, the resiliency and compassion of human nature also has proven that it can withstand floods, droughts and famines.
And so it shall be in my home state. After seeing the devastation first-hand, it still made me wonder how the fatalities were kept in the single digits. I commend the emergency preparedness plans put into action by city and county authorities the evening of the storm. Civil defense people came from the adjoining counties without even needing to be called. Thanks to the warning systems, countless lives were saved. In fact, rising above the call of duty, volunteer firefighters in my hometown raced through the streets with their vehicle sirens blaring to alert residents when the power was cut off to the town sirens showing their commitment.
Exactly one week after the storm blazed its trail through the region, I returned to Parkersburg. I’m pleased to report relief and recovery efforts are underway. Like a beacon of hope, just days after the storm, walls went up on a new garage. It’s pictured here. Parkersburg will be back and this is an example of how it will happen. This building won’t be big, but what it means to see it go up is gigantic.
The clean-up operation will take months of back-breaking work. Bulky machinery will do the heaviest lifting. And it will take countless hours of manpower to orchestrate the massive undertaking to get the job done. The seemingly impossible task is being made possible thanks to the tireless commitment of Butler County’s first responders, administrators, emergency crews and legions of volunteers.
Donations of food, water, clothing and other supplies have poured into the tornado-ravaged region. I’d like to mention just a few notable examples of neighbors and strangers lending a hand during the recovery effort in the last week:
Volunteers from other states arrived with heavy equipment to clear debris, on their own time and on their own dime. People from as far away from Tennessee have come to help. These people were cleaning up from tornadoes in Oklahoma and the next day, they were in Parkersburg, Iowa cleaning up. A massage emergency response team is offering its services to weary relief workers at the New Hartford Public Library. A group of 90 high school students, mostly football players, from Dowling High School in Des Moines, traveled the 100 miles to help with the recovery work at the Aplington-Parkersburg high schools athletic fields. They pitched in to rake up glass and debris. The Salvation Army has set up mobile canteens, serving 1,000 hot meals each day to Parkersburg residents and relief workers.
The tornado, storm and flood damage over Memorial Day weekend in Iowa has received a federal declaration of disaster assistance. People have come in from FEMA, California, New Jersey and maybe a lot of other places that I got to meet that afternoon. Residents and these communities need help to rebuild. And I know Iowans appreciate the help. I listed just a few people, but there are also many who I haven’t been able to thank.
Looking out across the countryside near my home, our corner of the world looks turned upside down. Utility poles, shingles, siding, insulation and uprooted trees are strewn across farm fields. The clean-up will take time. But I know Iowans are in it for the long haul.
I and other Grassley’s were fortunate in the damage of this storm since my farm was about a mile and a half south and my son and grandson’s farms were a mile and a half north. We’ve lost friends. Norman works at the New Hartford Grain Elevator. He won't be there because he was killed in this tornado. So Norman, who always greeted us when we go to the elevator to download our grain in the fall, his friendly face will be missed.
The outpouring of support from neighbors, friends and strangers from near and far has given a jump-start to the necessary healing process. It underscores the decency of human nature rising above the catastrophic forces of Mother Nature.
The selfless sacrifice by literally scores of heroes will help mend the immeasurable heartbreak and hurt I saw during my visits to these communities. I say with gladness in my own heart, the F-5 tornado did not extinguish the hope and pride of the residents of these Midwestern communities who call Parkersburg, New Hartford, Hazelton and Dunkerton home. It may be ambitious for me to talk about this on the Senate floor and praise the Lord for what can be done now. Other states have tornadoes more regularly, but it doesn’t happen in my state and there’s a lesson to be learned from this. There’s an appreciation that we all ought to remember how lucky we are.