Tornado hit my city (pics added)

I just posted about our new dog Vallis, but I decided to post this on another thread. I don't know if this made national news or not, but a tornado hit Iowa City, and there is major damage 1/2 mile from my house!

It was so scary- last night the sirens went off with reports of a tornado west of town, and I was at my mom's house with the dogs. We all went into her basement under the stairwell (me, my mom, brother, all 3 dogs and my mom's cat). Luckily, her house was not hit and neither was my house (Eric was home with Seine, they were in our basement) but the downtown is badly damaged. :( The pet store which houses the rescue where I got Vallis from is downtown, and they must have about 35 cats that live in the store. I was so worried the glass would break, but luckily all the animals are unharmed, and the store made it ok without much damage. Also very lucky is that the U of Iowa hospitals was not hit, as 10,000+ people are in there everyday. The University of Iowa cancelled classes today which to my knowledge has not happened in over 30 years (when I was a student I always checked during severe weather but they make a point not to close down campus).

Well, I know this was not dog-related but I just wanted to share since it was such a scary event, and even though I've lived in Iowa most of my life, nothing like this has ever happened to me before.

Edit: I walked downtown with my brother and luckily most of it was spared. I got some pictures of the worst damage though, thankfully no one in town was badly hurt! It's amazing how one end of the street can be fine, then see so much damage down the road.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...i/IMG_2687.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...i/IMG_2686.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...i/IMG_2711.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...i/IMG_2700.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...i/IMG_2674.jpg

Thank goodness you and all the animals are okay! I saw that this morning and thought of you!

(I moved this to General, where it's perfectly appropriate to post non-dog-related stuff!)

How scary! I'm so glad everybody was okay!!

We heard about it up here in the NW. I'm glad all is well with you and your furkids. It must have been very frightening for you and your family.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Karen

Thank goodness you and all the animals are okay! I saw that this morning and thought of you!

(I moved this to General, where it's perfectly appropriate to post non-dog-related stuff!)

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Thank you!
Yes, I feel really lucky that we are all ok. As far as I know, no one in Iowa City was badly injured although one person died in a town southeast of here. :(

Thanks god you are ok!

Thank god everyone is safe and ok! Did anyone die or get hurt severly in the city?

:) So glad you & the babies are all ok & was not hit/hurt.. So :( sorry for the ones that was.. Tis the season for tornados now..

Goodness! I'm glad you're all okay. There have been some awful tornadoes this year.

So glad to hear you are alright. There has been an awful lot of tonados this year. We have had a lot down here in Tennessee.

Thank God you and all your babies are okay!

Willie :)

That's so scary.. I'm glad I've never had to experience a tornado! And I'm also glad you're all okay. :)

OMG, I am sooooo glad all of you are all right!!!!

I'm glad you are okay. The Weather Channel is out there reporting live and I always worry about my online friends when I see such devestation.

How scary! I'm glad you are ok and the pet store is ok. We had a bad electrical storm last night, I was worried about tornadoes. We had baseball sized hail and enough lightning to make it daylight. I even unplugged my filters so the fish wouldn't get zapped (not that I know if that could happen).

I was going to pm you to see how you were doing, glad you and all critters are ok!
IA City is like my hometown. I was born there and my mom and her family grew up there. How is City Park? My mom told me that College Green Park was hit, trees down and such. The appartment we lived in when I was born (don't remember it of course but my mom poins it out when we visit) is apparently not there and my mom's childhood historic house had it's 150 year old victorian carrage house-turned-garrage torn off the foundation and it's unsalvagable. My mom said her old college house (forgot what those are called) had part of the roof and a wall torn off so it looks like a doll house.
Sigh... I guess we're all just living by nature's rules after all I't just so hard to take. It gave my great g'ma quite a scare over in Cedar Rapids and that's the last thing she needs right now.

Glad your OK. I could not imagine living under threats of tornados.

Glad your ok. It must have been terrifying for you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Suki Wingy

I was going to pm you to see how you were doing, glad you and all critters are ok!
IA City is like my hometown. I was born there and my mom and her family grew up there. How is City Park? My mom told me that College Green Park was hit, trees down and such. The appartment we lived in when I was born (don't remember it of course but my mom poins it out when we visit) is apparently not there and my mom's childhood historic house had it's 150 year old victorian carrage house-turned-garrage torn off the foundation and it's unsalvagable. My mom said her old college house (forgot what those are called) had part of the roof and a wall torn off so it looks like a doll house.
Sigh... I guess we're all just living by nature's rules after all I't just so hard to take. It gave my great g'ma quite a scare over in Cedar Rapids and that's the last thing she needs right now.

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City park is fine, luckily nothing happened there but College Green Park was hit very badly. The gazebo and playground are there, but most of the trees are down. It's terrible seeing 50 and 60 year old trees die.

That's too bad about your mom's childhood house! :( I really feel for all the people who have to move because of this. Many of them are poor college kids, too, who probably didn't have any insurance on their stuff. I'm glad your grandma is ok, I'm sure she was terrified.

Woah, that is so freaky. I'm so glad that you and yours are okay!!

How scary :eek: , glad to hear you are okay!!
Hey, they even showed pics on our Belgian television!!

I'm glad you & your family are ok. It's amazing what damage wind &
rain can leave behind. Indianapolis has had strong storms & tornado
sighting for the last 3 Fridays in a row. Last Friday we had hail as big
as golf balls for about 20 minutes at my house. :eek: Anyone who didn't
park their car inside a garage had broken windows & dents & dings all
over it.It was truly scary.I took all the furkids to the basement and fed
the dogs dog bisquets to keep them quiet. :rolleyes: Pictures of some
of the damage.....


http://www.theindychannel.com/weathe...40/detail.html