The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 6

6A DES MOINES REGISTER June 30, 1979 -jv ''XiTw-V, Damage was extensive in a new residential section of homes in Algona. Two Algona residents died from injuries in Thursday night's tornado. Register photos by Bob Nandell and Larry E. Neibergal! REGISTER MAP BY NANCY NICHOLAS Des Moines KW I As the roof and sides lof the store were ripped open and merchandise soared through the air, the nine people lay on "top of each other for protection. The twister t'went right over the top" of the four employees and five customers.

ounce back' after twister's to'b anna vnwc The swirling winds threw her into a bedroom hallway where she wa3 knocked unconscious, said her husband, Bill. Wendt said a neighbor pulled his wife to safety. Fire officials said ambulances and rescue workers responded quickly and all the injured were transported to hospitals in less than half an hour. Utt said 25 fire departments from other communities came to Algona's aid, some as far away as Oelwein, a distance of 70 miles. Immediately after the tornado struck, the town was sealed by officials to stop sightseers from flocking into the area.

Algona Mayor Harold Van Allen said he was returning to Algona from Des Moines when he learned of the tornado. "Immediaely after arriving back," Van Allen said, "I declared the town an emergency area and had it sealed off completely." The town remained sealed to all but residents and emergency workers Friday. Voigt said "a strict curfew" would be imposed around the stricken areas at sundown Friday. Storing Possessions Residents whose homes were destroyed or heavily damaged gathered what salvageable possessions they could find and stored them at the livestock show building at the Kossuth County Fairgrounds under police guard Friday. A Red Cross spokesman said no massive relocation program for the homeless was needed because they found shelter with friends, relatives or other townspeople.

Royal Nold, vice president of the Iowa State Bank, said people were IrlLGOMA KOSSUTH COUNTY horror estimate was given of the number of motor vehicles destroyed or heavily damaged but the number is believed to be several hundred. Algona injury list The following is a list of persons injured in the tornado that struck Algona Thursday. Five persons were hospitalized with injuries, officials said Friday night. They were identified as Lawrence Pfeffer, 73, critical condition at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester; Addie Christensen, 88, good condition at St.

Joseph's Mercy Hospital in Mason City, and Shelly Weydert, 12, Bertha Rippentrop, 76, and Catherine Wendt, 58, all in satisfactory condition at Kossuth County Hospital in Algona. Algona residents released after treatment from Kossuth County Hospital for bruises, lacerations, glass injuries and shock were: Angela Weydert, Faye Weydert, 38; Roger Baker, 30? Pam Hammer, 21; Eileen Priester, 21; David Priester, 23; Sara Priester, 4 months old; Nancy Sands, 61; Elizabeth Lee, 4 months old; Chad Weir, Anna Mae Weir, 33; Darald Hammer, 23; Willis Esterhington, 73; George Heinen, 59; Todd Hammer, 15; Mark Sorensen, 18; Angela Battani, 17; Inga Battani, 38; Ruby Heinen, 54, Lillian Thilges, 72; Harry Thilges, 69; Jane Lenz, 28; Douglas Thilges, 11; Beverly Mawdsley, 45; Jan Kajewski, 19; Michael Lee, 28; Shirley Raney, 44; Ann Studer, 21; and Eugene Minard, 58. Dead as a result of the tornado are Eva Pfeffer, 66, and Leona Smith, 69. All the injured and dead were from Algona. night, framed his Algona home.

bringing their silver and larger valuables to the bank for protection. Police said one teen-ager had been detained after he was found "poking around" in the rubble Thursday night, but he was released without charges. A National Guard spokesman said he had received reports that two looters were apprehended as of Friday night. Besides local and county emergency workers, about 40 state troopers and 100 National Guardsmen were sent to Algona. Businesses Destroyed Here is a list of establishments destroyed in Algona: Algona Greenhouse, Pioneer Seed research building, First Baptist Church (under construction and almost completed), Cook Welders, Red Depot Antiques, Ryan's Musicland, That's Me clothing store, Hallmark Card and Gift Shop, Clothes Horse, Pucci's Pizza Parlor, Payless Shoes, Alco Discount Store, Colonial Motel, Hjelmeland Truss (manufacturing roof-support beams), Graham Hardware, Blue Bunny Milk Products Depot, Pioneer Seed Bus Barn, Case Power and Equipment Pamida Discount Store.

These were damaged heavily: North Central Public Service Bulk Plant (liquid petroleum and propane), Bertha Godfrey Elementary School, First Presbyterian Church, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Algona Locker Plant, Trupke Electric Motor, Hjelmland Construction Company, and Chrome Union 76 Truckstop restaurant. Authorities also estimate 102 private homes plus an eight-unit apartment building were destroyed and 81 other private homes had severe damage. Another 250 private homes were estimated to have moderate to minor damage. No on a pile of lumber that, until Thursday By BARBARA BROOKER andTOMSUK Rnisfcr Staff Wrtttn ALGONA, IA. A tornado that swept southeast through Algona Thursday night left in its path two dead, 34 injured and an estimated $10 million in damage, authorities said.

Algona residents spent most of Thursday night and Friday sifting through the piles of debris where their homes once stood. Authorities estimated about 200 private homes either were destroyed or sustained major damage and 250 homes received minor damage. Nearly 20 businesses, two churches and the city's newest elementary school, Bertha Godfrey Elementary School, were destroyed or heavily damaged. The tornado disrupted the town's 125th anniversary, a four-day celebration that was to begin Sunday. Celebration Renamed We've renamed the whole thing.

We're calling the celebration Bouncing Back," said one resident. And indeed that's what most of the 6,032 people in Algona were spending their time doing on Friday bouncing back. Neighbors helped each other assemble personal belongings in paper cartons, which were loaded into trucks and cars for storage at friends' homes. Some things couldn't be found wedding ring, eyeglasses, a doll and even a car which was parked in a driveway before the storm hit. The dead were identified as Eva Pfeffer, 66, and Leona Smith, 69.

Both died early Friday at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, Minn. Pfeffer died of chest injuries and Smith of a head injury. Five Algona residents remained ho-siUlized Friday including Lawrence Pfeffer, 73, the husband of Eva. He reported in critical condition at t.

Mary's Hospital in Rochester. Police Chief James Voigt said casu 'jack Graham, background, gets help from 4 i "31 of homes on the city's southeast side were leveled. Brian Buscher said he was standing in the driveway of his home when he saw the funnel just two blocks away. "I just kept thinking it's going to lift before it gets here, but it never did." Buscher said he ran for the basement when a board shot through the basement window and headed right for him. Tales of Horror And then it was over.

I "At first we didn't think it was that bad because the basement was still intact. When we climbed the stairs and got to the first floor we realized there was no roof, no house," Buscher said. 'It took four years to build this area and not even three minutes to tear it apart," he remarked. On the other side of town, Pamida Discount Center manager James Larson, 23, said the tornado, which caused more than 100,000 damage to the building and its inventory, "went right over the top" of four employees and five customers who were huddled in the southwest corner of the store. As the roof and sides of the building on the southwest were ripped open and merchandise soared through the air, the nine people lay on top of each other for protection.

All that was left of Mildred Johnson's home was her basement. "There was a terrific noise and then a roar. That's when the house went up. I think it was the largest noise I ever heard in my life," said Johnson, who hid behind a wall divider in her basement. Catherine Wendt, 58, woke up from a nap on her living room couch to find her home disintegrating around her.

that once was Graham's hardware store. alties were relatively slight because residents received several minutes' warning that the tornado was heading for them. Local radio station KIGA had been tracking the twister's progress since it came in from Minnesota about 70 miles away. The tornado hit Algona shortly after 7 p.m. and Voigt and James Utt of the Algona Fire Department both saw it.

Voigt ordered the town's warning sirens sounded about five minutes before the tornado hit the Kossuth County community. Utt, who grabbed his camera and headed for a hill north of Algona when he heard reports about a tornado, said, "It was a half-mile wide. The funnel kept expanding and contracting, raising and lowering as it slashed its way to the town." Utt said it looked like "a black curtain with blue sky on both its sides." When it hit the town, Utt said he could see "pieces of buildings as big as trucks flying into the air." Cars Hurled One resident said the tornado, which skipped through the town, moved like a "lawn mower," topping trees and exploding buildings and homes. The cyclone gathered everything in its path as it traveled through a wide area of the city in less than two minutes. The results were horrifying: five cars were hurled into one home, with one of the cars landing upside down on the kitchen counter; a house was moved almost 30 feet from its foundation, coming to rest almost intact in the middle of a city street, leaving a woman and her two young daughters huddled unharmed in basement debris.

Three square blocks a neighbor ai tbey sort through rubble 7HV I Gv. Terry Branstad, center, talki with Algona city councilman Mark T.McGuire during a tour Vff'-CL of damage to the east side of Algona. At right is Kenneth Quinn, an aide to Gov. Robert Ray. jz i' ill' Andy Kramer stands.