Building damaged by the storm in Vinton.
Dozens of people are getting help from the Red Cross in the eastern Iowa town of Vinton, one of the hardest hit areas from severe storms that ripped through the state on Sunday.
The roof of a two-story apartment complex was ripped off, but no one was seriously injured. Joe Radcliffe, who lives in the building, told KCRG-TV he feels lucky to be alive.
“It was horrible,” Radcliffe said. “I guess it would be like a train…actually, it sounded like a train falling on me. I didn’t know what was going on, it was noisy.”
The storm hit Vinton around 5 a.m. “I looked out the window at about 4:55 and it wasn’t two minutes later, everything came through my window and the roof came down on me,” Radcliffe told KCRG. The Red Cross’ Cedar Rapids chapter has a shelter set up at Vinton High School. The agency estimates at least 55 people in Vinton will need some type of help.
A resident of this apartment complex says the storm sounded like a train.
Several homes were damaged, in addition to the apartment complex on the city’s southeast side. Wind gusts in Vinton topped 70 miles-an-hour and threw pieces of wood through walls and cars. In nearby Walford, a house was leveled, trapping a man inside. He was rescued and not seriously hurt.
The National Weather Service in the Quad Cities has sent storm survey teams to Benton and Linn counties, as well as Jackson and Scott counties – where two brief tornado touch downs were confirmed.
The forecast calls for the possibility of more thunderstorms through Wednesday and some very hot and humid conditions. Eleven counties in northwest Iowa will be under an excessive heat watch Wednesday afternoon through Friday night, with heat indices approaching 110 degrees.
Thanks to KCRG TV