Due to damage from the derecho, a community-wide power outage and no supply of gasoline due to the power outage, the City of Marshalltown remains under a civil emergency. Marshalltown Mayor Joel Greer says there is “just so much damage.”
“Drive past the fire station and you’ll notice all of the doors are damaged to get the fire trucks in and out — on both sides. We know homeowners are experiencing the same thing,” Greer says. “There’s ‘Iowa Nice,’ but there’s also looting in places so this is an emergency. It looks like a war zone again.”
Greer says as in other areas of the state, it may take a while to determine what the final damage estimate may be. For many businesses, those expenses will be on top of the repair bills for damage from the July 19, 2007 EF3 tornado that roared down Main Street.
At the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown, the good news is that no residents and staff were injured, but the early estimate of damage on the grounds is in the $4-to-5 million range. Commandant Timon Oujiri says many of the buildings were damaged.
“Malloy, Schuller, Dack, Whitehill, our medical clinic roofing all had sustained damage; holes were punched into them,” Oujiri says. “…Heinz Hall sustained the most major damage of the buildings on the Iowa Veteran’s grounds.”
Heinz Hall, which is 120 years old, has space for 115 residents. Qujiri says roughly 100 trees on campus were also damaged by the derecho.
(By Ken Huge, KFJB, Marshalltown)