Seeing Iowa City in person today really increased my amazement that no one was killed. Brick walls and chimneys collapsed all over, and hundreds of windows were blown out, so flying glass must have been everywhere. A commenter on my previous article about the storm was angered by the idea of me visiting the city during this time, but it was a full 40 hours since the storm had hit, and I was careful to keep out of the way. Some things just need to be experienced in person. What the news sites, TV news, CNN, etc, don't show are the blocks and blocks of slightly damaged homes. Maybe just a big tree down, or a couple windows broken, or sections of shingles gone... I would put the number of homes in those categories in the hundreds.
This sorority house is one of the worst-hit buildings that I saw. Girls and their parents were trying to sift through the wreckage and move out things that were salvageable.
This car flew into a creek, and someone added a humorous sign to it.
The utilities and electrical contractors struggling to get everyone's power back on. Some residents are reportedly being told it could take up to a week.
Downtown parking buildings seem to have weaker glass, as I saw several of them missing a lot of windows in their stairwells.
Stoplights missing the lights, and highrises missing windows. It makes me realize that my 8' tall windows wouldn't be so neat in a tornado.
The famous shot... you've seen it everywhere, and now you've seen it taken by me. St. Patrick's has an excellent website with great images
here. I know that St. Mary's and southwest Davenport misses Father Rudy, but I suspect he will be greatly appreciated at St. Patrick's during this difficult time for them.
This sorority house is one of the worst-hit buildings that I saw. Girls and their parents were trying to sift through the wreckage and move out things that were salvageable.
This car flew into a creek, and someone added a humorous sign to it.
The utilities and electrical contractors struggling to get everyone's power back on. Some residents are reportedly being told it could take up to a week.
Downtown parking buildings seem to have weaker glass, as I saw several of them missing a lot of windows in their stairwells.
Stoplights missing the lights, and highrises missing windows. It makes me realize that my 8' tall windows wouldn't be so neat in a tornado.
The famous shot... you've seen it everywhere, and now you've seen it taken by me. St. Patrick's has an excellent website with great images here. I know that St. Mary's and southwest Davenport misses Father Rudy, but I suspect he will be greatly appreciated at St. Patrick's during this difficult time for them.
2 comments:
My gosh what you have pictured and the first hand account of visiting 40 hours later tells so much more than what those bigtime media outlets could convey. I am glad you went and stayed out of the way. Next time put the camera down and pick up some debris. I know it was so devastating you would not know where to start. At least donate what you spent in gas to the Red Cross.
Oh wait, those people probably never came down to help with some spring clean-up day in Davenport, so no bother.
Good point. We tend to be very small minded in Davenport. We seem to think the worst thing in the world is somebody that has some garbage in their yard.
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