Amusing Quotes from Iowa City Storm Coverage

[Ajaxab]

We had a tornado rip through downtown Iowa City last night. It was pretty wild given that a lot of the damage was a mile or two away from our apartment. Roofs were torn off, cars were overturned and some businesses were seriously damaged. But the university newspaper got some brilliant quotes from students about the whole incident. I could add my own comments, but these things pretty much speak for themselves.


A.J. Tiering, visiting from Notre Dame, in experiencing the tornado at a house party. “Shit was flying in. All the guys were on top of the girls protecting them in the basement.”

Paul Gidding, 42, said, “I was screaming my ass off.”

Carly Sennett, a high school student visiting from Chicago, “I heard you choose a school based on the weather, but I don’t know if that’s going to be true. I really like Iowa.”

Sam Ehlinger, UI senior, “The Liquor House opened up like a can of tuna, and all my friends ran up and started taking liquor.”

“An employee of The Liquor House—whose back wall had collapsed on a parked car—declined to comment. “Now’s not the time,” the employee said.”


I love the amateur journalists around here sometimes.

[John Galt]

The storm was crazy. Our house survived intact, but parts of town are surreal looking. Our deck was completely white covered in hail last night. I'm just glad the damage to IC wasn't worse.

[Ajaxab]

I was wondering how things went for you. Fortunately for us the hail wasn't big enough to do any damage. One of our neighbors had their car windows shattered while they were downtown last night.

[John Galt]

We live in a house on the Northeast side of town, so thankfully our cars were in the garage. The hail was pretty big where we were, but there really wasn't much wind (which is strange when you are only 1-2 miles from 3 tornados). There is all sorts of crazy garbage around our neighborhood. For some reason there is a lot of soaked pink insulation around (yet no house near us that was damaged). I didn't have much time to survey our area because I had to go to work. I'll be interested to see what it looks like when I get home tonight. It was amazing how hit-or-miss the storm was.

[tarcone]

anything about North Liberty or Cedar Rapids? or was it confined to IC?
I have brothers in the 2 above towns

[John Galt]

anything about North Liberty or Cedar Rapids? or was it confined to IC?
I have brothers in the 2 above towns

There was a lot of hail in North Liberty and Cedar Rapids, but as far as I know they weren't affected by tornados. I work in CR and everything seems totally normal here. One of my co-coworkers, who lives in CR, didn't even know there was a tornado warning until he heard us talking this morning. So, my guess is everyone here is fine.

[tarcone]

Wow. just saw pictures and videos of the destruction
crazy stuff

[tabucko]

We had the sirens going off here around 7:45, but the funnel cloud that was supposedly spotted was already past Marion. I had some pea sized hail here in NW Cedar Rapids, but other than that, just a lot of rain. I wish the best for everyone in IC.

[Craptacular]

I got just enough drops of rain to put a couple of spots on my deck, but otherwise I just watched the light show go through Madison. I captured a few pretty cool looking shots with my camera though. After hearing the reports of >4" hail just east of MAdison, and seeing the stuff in Iowa, I guess I'm glad we just missed it.

[sterlingice]

My wife's mom who is a teacher at West High said she got golfball sized hail in the lawn. As much as we get hail in Kansas, I've never actually seen bigger than nickel sized.

SI

[tarcone]

West High, huh? i graduated from there in 1985. was she teaching then?
i have 2 nephews who go there now.
My sis-in-law in cedar rapids said they didnt get anything on the northwest side just sirens.
havent talked to my bro in north liberty yet

[sterlingice]

1985 would have been before her time, I think

SI

[SFL Cat]

Tornadoes are just crazy weird. I lived in Louisville, Kentucky in 1973 when several tornadoes ripped through the city. Since I was in Boy Scouts at the time, we went out to help with the cleanup. It was just amazing how one house could be practically razed, and the one standing next to it would be missing just a few shingles from the roof.

[tucker342]

I live off of Riverside so the tornado was literally a block or two from where I live (Hillcrest dorm)... luckily there was no damage at all though, despite the fact that basically just down the streeet some buildings suffered major damage.

By the way I had no idea there were so many Iowa City connections on the board:)