Storm chaser Kevin Walters watched in horror as this storm descended on
Parkersburg, Iowa late Sunday afternoon. The storm, as much as a mile wide and
categorized in a post storm survey by National Weather Service personnel an EF5 by
National Weather Service, decimated a huge swath of the Iowa community not far
from Waterloo, killing seven during its horrible rampage. Kevin snapped this shot of
the storm and shares this account of his storm encounter with us:
“This is the tornado that hit Parkersburg. It is very had to see because of poor
contrast. The tornado is behind the farm buildings. I saw three separate tornadoes.
At one point I had debris falling from the sky as I drove in driving rain and hail. I
caught glimpses of the wedge as it was wrapped in rain. Storm motions were
amazing, it looked like the entire updraft base was on the ground. I tried to get
ahead of the tornado so I could drop south to get better contrast but downed power
poles caused me to detour twice. I could not catch up after debris covered the road
near Hazelton. This storm too a very similar path as a violent tornado in 2000, both
missed Waterloo by a couple of miles to the north.”
Thanks for sharing this with us, Kevin. Our hearts go out to the residents of
Parkerburg and to family member who lost loved ones.
Tom Skilling
Photo courtesy: Kevin Walters
