The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 3

The Des Moines Register Tuesday, May 18, 19')9 3 A Tornadoes Floods Strike State 3C I' w.wiiu.uiiMwuwii mi i.iim. mini I'- i i '-w fTm I I r-'s- 1 ztu 1 it f5: 7 AM 1 1 -i-iT- -i'r, I-1 i-t-iinirni- i mi. it mm, mm fnitt A lfAn.A.S wr. M. HARRY BAUMERTThk HARRY BAL'MKRTThf Rmjisti 1 Glenda Roys sorts ruined items at Fayette's Maple Motel, where floodwater from the Volga River Fay Dibble, standing at upper right, wonders how he'll cross the chasm caused by floods that reached 6 feet above her floor.

undermined an Otter Creek bridge on Iowa Highway 281 south of Oelwein. 1 C3 nil www i Heavy rains bring flooding to Northeast Iowa KEY: Flood stage Forecast (feet) crest Unusually heavy rains over the weekend left homes and businesses flooded, schools closed and four counties declared disaster areas. Here's a look at some of the communities flooded and when the National Weather Service expects rivers to peak: Twisters that killed two leave a trail of desolation and amazing escapes. By JEFF ZELENY and STACI HUPP Rf.oistkr Staff Writers Logan, la. Kathy Brandon has answered Harrison County's emergency calls with a calm voice and a steady hand for nearly two decades.

So when tornadoes started dropping from the western Iowa sky Sunday afternoon, she sounded the city's siren here like she always does. She kept listening to the police miles Tuesday When crest is forecast iSli lOWAv Charles City Vr. COUNTY -C3 FAYETTE rfH IMTV TV aiiiiaini V' tm I 1 umtcdi nn -Fayette ittiepart Fikno 4' radio. The funnel cloud had already struck near the Bev Harter place, killing two people and critical DUBUQUE (DrU This evening NEW HARTFORD OBI This morning OES MOINES 1 I Today, noon 14 '0 Mil2O0 VOLGA Entire town under 1-3 feet of water Monday. Crest was expected Monday afternoon.

in iip.i i.i.i, m.m i i Dunkerton GARBER EQE9 Monday DUBUQUE BUCHANAN Cedar COUNTY COUNTY Littleton I Falls Dyersville mm iir scattered across the acreage. A car was tossed nearly 300 yards against a tree. But less than 5 feet from an uprooted tree were two bottles of white zinfandel wine, splattered with mud, but unbroken. Fugate's trailer house was unscathed. Joe Fustos of Omaha was among those huddled in the ditch Sunday.

Fustos was driving a group of people to a graduation party for his friend Zachary Cox when he saw the tornado. "When we came up over the hill, we saw the tornado right there. I thought we were probably going to die," Fustos, 26, said Monday. Fustos said he tried to make it to the end of the road, where Harter, Cox's grandmother, lived. Afraid of being swallowed by the storm, he pulled over.

He said people from two or three cars scattered into the ditch. Fustos saw the car he'd been driving lifted into the black, roaring storm. The tornado "came right over us. I never felt any pull, but the wind really drove into us and pushed us down." When the tornado passed, he looked up to see that Harter's house had been flattened. Fustos said neighbors had called paramedics, who whisked him to a hospital in Missouri Valley before he could find out what had happened to his car's passengers.

He was told at the hospital that two people were dead. He learned Monday one of the victims was Cox's mother, Fugate. Fustos suffered a broken arm and bruises. Damage could have been much worse. The tornadoes skirted Logan, causing no damage in the town.

One of the most amazing stories circulating through Harrison County on Monday was what took place about 4 p.m. Sunday at the home of Randy Koenig and his wife, Vicki, who were throwing a graduation party for their son Brian. The Koenigs live in a home that is built into the ground, which could have been all that saved them and their 40 party guests. Teachers, neighbors, relatives and friends himkered down in the living room of the house as the roof was sucked off. There was so much insulation and dirt flying through the air that some wondered if they would suffocate.

"You felt like you were going to be buried alive," said Brian Koenig, who knows he will never forget the terror of his graduation celebration. BELLEVUE SB OH Wednesday evening INDEPENDENCE mim This morning ANAMOSA Thursday morning Floods ravage SOURCE: National Weather Service many Iowa towns WEATHER ly injuring at least two more. By the time the call came to the dispatcher's office, Dr. Randy Koenig's house was gone, too. From her position inside the sheriffs office communications center, Brandon could foresee the twister's path.

She knew it was headed right for her white, two-story farmhouse about 4 miles south of Logan. "I was busy telling everyone to take cover," said the 61-year-old Brandon, who helped field the dozens of emergency calls that pored into the Harrison County sheriffs office Sunday afternoon. "Then I heard it on the radio." Her house was destroyed, the last of six homes hit by one of three tornadoes that ripped through Harrison County. Two people were killed and at least 16 were injured. The storm claimed the first fatalities in an Iowa tornado since April 26, 1986.

The 13-year streak without a tornado death is the longest such stretch since weather records began in 1890. Harrison County Sheriff Terry Baxter, who estimated the damage inTus county at $1.5 million, said the two victims were Juli Pali, 15, of Bellevue, and Kathy Fugate, 37, of Logan. They were among 12 people taking shelter in a ditch as the tornado hit Harter's home. 4 Harter, who was critically injured, and Fugate, Harter's daughter, had fled Fugate's mobile home to seek shelter in Harter's sturdier house. The tornado was coming so quickly that they abandoned their vehicle and took shelter in the ditch.

A car and a heavy combine head landed on top of Harter, Fugate and Pali. Barter's two-story house was obliterated. Splintered lumber and mud-stained possessions were busily filling sandbags to bolster tht levee. "They're trying to save the houses," Weber said. In Buchanan County, a shaken Independence Mayor Donna Hansen said the waters began running ovfer homes and businesses by midday S-the first major flood since 1993.

"I've seen areas flooded that have never been flooded," Hansen said. "It's really come up fast. It's unbelievable In Dubuque County, 260 homes were damaged as the Little Ma-quoketa River ran out of its banks, said Chuck Euskavich, assistant emergency-management director. In Dyersville, 100 families were sent packing, as were 50 families 1n Dubuque. Garber.

An estimated 700 people were evacuated in Clayton County. Several towns lost phone service. In the town of Volga, about 300 people left their homes when a levee broke, said Jerry Weber, the Clayton County engineer. County officials estimated that half of the homes and businesses there were damaged. The U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers worked to provide drinking water. The Old Volga City Opera House, a restaurant that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was heavily damaged, he said. In Littleport, water had reached the bottom of windows at Hope Lutheran Church. Weber said 90 percent of the homes and businesses were damaged. Major Focus But the greatest attention focused on Elkport, a community of about 100 people, where Volga River floodwater threatened to overrun a levee.

Some 50 volunteers were In Independence, Jamie Keniston, 19, had to move out of her rented home. The Wapsipinicon River had taken over. "I'm upset about it," Keniston said. "It's ruining my stuff. It makes me want to move." Even the rescuers needed help in this storm.

Swift currents in flooded Otter Creek swamped a rescue boat from Hazleton. Workers from nearby Oelwein arrived in another boat to retrieve the crew. Downtown Fayette In downtown Fayette, nearly every business on Main Street was flooded by the Volga River, said Ray Gavins, who owns a grocery store there. "There's going to be a lot of mud tracked in here, because the whole town is mud," he said. The Volga River forced evacuations in Volga, Littleport, Elkport and Garber in Clayton County.

The Turkey River hit its highest level in at least a century at Garber. The Volga and Turkey rivers meet at Continued from Page 1A straight day today because Crane Creek washed over homes and blocked bus routes. On Monday, rescue workers plied Dunkerton streets in boats to reach residents who waited out the flood at the school. "It's been a learning experience," said school Superintendent Richard Wede. "The type of learning we would rather not be involved with." Dunkerton Mayor Richard Ede said approximately 200 people fled 120 homes.

"This is the worst anybody has seen it" worse than the town's 1968 record flood, Ede said. Dunkerton escaped flooding in 1993 when many Iowa towns record high water. The water was chest deep on Main Street, flooding all 15 businesses. City Hall desks were under water. The sewage-treatment plant was under water.

THIS ARTICLE includes reports front Des Moines Register staff writers Charles Bullard, Ken Fuson and Staci Hupp. Reporter Jeff Zeleny can be reached at (515) 284-8048 or zelenyjnewsdmreg.com Reporter Perry Beeman can be reached at (515) 284-8000 or beemanpnews.dmree.com p-wym '4f lire v'i nwj i tJ 71'. i UT -JL 3 I 1 i TINA YKKThf. Rkcistkr TINA YKKThk kXiisTKK I INA n.KTiiK. Ki iiisrti; This is the ditch near Logan where two lowans were killed in Sunday's tornadoes.

The storm dropped the car and combine head onto victims huddled in the ditch. A doll was salvaged from the ruined home of Kathy Brandon near Logan. The doll belongs to Brandon's granddaughter. In the background, friends begin to clean up the debris. Jennifer Koenig, rear, and Pam Gochenour clean up the kitchen of the Randy Koenig home in Harrison County.

A graduation party was in progress when the storm hit..