Morning Storm Leaves Damage, More Storms Expected

Gazette and KCRG

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By Becky Ogann

Story Created: Jun 19, 2009 at 9:04 AM CST

Story Updated: Jun 19, 2009 at 2:33 PM CST

EASTERN IOWA - Another round of showers and thunderstorms is expected through your Friday evening. Some storms could be severe weather damaging winds and large hail. A cold front will help trigger the storms and that front will push across eastern Iowa tonight bringing in less humid air for your Saturday and rain-free skies. A push of warm air from the southwest late Saturday night and Sunday will cause another chance of showers and thunderstorms.

Destructive winds tossed three enclosed trailers more than 20 yards at Patton Equipment along Interstate 380 Friday morning.

Two of the 2,500-pound trailers landed on their sides and one stopped on its top, resting on the blade of a bulldozer.

Randy Patten was inside a shaking RV nearby.

"I thought I was going to end up on the interstate," he said. "I heard a few clunks once in a while. It must have been the trailers going by."

Patten was trapped inside the RV when the wind shoved against the door. It took a buddy and a skidloader to get him out.

Patten shook his head and smiled as he surveyed the damage from a company pickup.

"An hour afterward, we sold a trailer though," he said. "We still had a few on their wheels yet."

Several towns have reported damage including areas near Walker, Troy Mills, Vinton, Urbana, Ryan and Coggon.

Urbana
Branches more than 18 inches in diameter toppled onto streets and houses in Urbana.

Trailers tipped over on the east side of town, a trampoline was tossed onto South Street and shingles were ripped from rooftops.

John Werning, who lives at the corner of Main Street and West Washington Avenue, found a topped tree in his front yard.

"(The fire department) said we had 90 mile per hour winds," Werning said.

"I slept right through it," said John's young son Thomas Werning. "But when I woke up, it sounded like a train was going through our yard."

Troy Mills
Northeast of Troy Mills Penny Dake, her two children and two grandchildren got quite the scare when a tree fell on her house blocking her front door.

“I was standing in the living room,” said Dake, who’s lived in the home for about 20 years. “The wind just kept getting harder and harder.

She and the children went to the basement to wait out the storm.

“We heard the tree hit the house,” she said. “When we came outside after the storm had passed a machine shed was gone leaving three tractors in the open. A hay shed was gone. Debris was scattered all over the yard, and a fallen willow tree was draped over half the house.”

The front door to the home is blocked and from inside her kitchen it looks like she lives in the jungle.

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