Part of the roof and a cross from the steeple were blown off this church in Radcliffe.
Residents of the Hardin County town of Radcliffe are cleaning up after a fast moving, powerful storm last night knocked down large trees and power lines. Reverend Michael Rolfe is the pastor of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, one of the structures in Radcliffe that’s damaged.
“The roof on the entire back side of the church is gone and the cross was blown off the top (of the steeple). There are a lot of trees down in the area,” Rolfe said. “It’s unfortunate. It’s sad. From what I’ve been told, there are over 100 buildings in town that are damaged. There are trees down everywhere.”
The church was built 60 years ago. The Hardin County Sheriff’s Office reports no one was injured in the storm. “The best thing about this is simple; buildings and trees can be replaced, people can’t,” Rolfe said. The storm took the town by complete surprise, according to Rolfe.
“Even the people who work for the fire department that have the emergency pagers had absolutely no notification. It hit without warning and without any prequel for us to understand that this was actually coming our way. Because of that and because of the damage you see…it’s really a blessing that no one got hurt,” Rolfe said. In addition to the damage from high winds, many homes in Radcliffe have flooded basements.
(Story and photo by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)