Tornado rips through Floyd County Fairgrounds

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

An EF-1 tornado smashed through the Floyd County Fairgrounds around noon Monday, taking down several buildings and damaging others, but mostly missing the big Youth Enrichment Center there.

The National Weather Service reported the tornado, with 110 mph winds, touched down at 12:22 p.m. a mile west of Charles City, about half a mile west-southwest of the fairgrounds.

“The tornado heavily damaged many outbuildings at the fairgrounds as it moved northeast, but missed the city,” the NWS report said. “The fairgrounds sustained high-end EF-1 damage.

“The tornado continued northeast, producing high-end EF-1 damage for another 3-4 miles before weakening to EF-0 intensity. The damage path ended about 7 miles north of Charles City,” the weather service said in its damage survey report.

Floyd County officials reported 11 properties including the fairgrounds in the area with structural damage, including three homes that received major damage and are not currently habitable. There were no injuries or fatalities reported.

Amy Staudt, the Floyd County Fair Board president, was in the Youth Enrichment Center building at the fairgrounds when the tornado struck.

She said four buildings there “were leveled pretty good” and a total of eight to 10 buildings have damage.

“I was out in the Youth Enrichment Center just cleaning up and checking in after a rental and I just heard big noises coming through,” Staudt told the Press. “I popped my head out and glass started shattering, so I went into an interior room, waited for the noise to subside, and when I came back out we had destruction with a lot of buildings that weren’t there anymore.”

She said the only apparent damage to the YEC was a single window on the high ridge of the building that was shattered when a two-by-four was flung through it. The piece of wood was found in the rafters of the building.

“Obviously, we’re going to have someone come out and check for structural damage and make sure we’re safe, because we have rentals out there all June,” Staudt said about the facility that has seen almost continual use since it opened in March 2017.

She said the brick building at the fairgrounds “is gone.”

“The white 4-H exhibit building where the Little Hands on the Farm barn was is gone. There’s no roof on the dairy barn whatsoever. The hoop building roof is taken off. And then we have damage on the horse barn, beef barn and the sheep barn that we want to check” she said.

Staudt said she had no idea yet what the monetary damage would amount to, but all the buildings that were damaged were covered by insurance and the insurance adjuster would be at the fairgrounds today (Tuesday) or Wednesday.

She said it’s too early to tell what impact the damage will have on the Floyd County Fair, scheduled to run July 17-21.

“We still have all our entertainment booked. We’re planning on all of that coming through as normal,” she said. “Our grandstand was not affected, so we can still have a full grandstand up there.”

She said buildings that are still standing will need to be checked for any damage that poses safety issues, and some temporary structures or tents might have to be used for some fair events.

Staudt said the quick response from the community has been overwhelming.

“I sent out one text to our fair board today, FFA advisors and our 4-H Extension, and we had over 100 show up and we were turning people away,” she said.

Offers for help have come from the Charles City and the Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock school districts, from the Aplington-Parkersburg School District and from Jim Hanson, a former FFA advisor now living in Leroy, Minnesota.

“They’ve all said they can bring buses down and help,” Staudt said. “I think we’re going to have enough manpower. People are coming out of the woodwork to help. It’s a great community.”

“We just need to sit back and assess the damages and see how do we clean up and go from there,” she said.

Floyd County Sheriff Jeff Crooks and Emergency Management Director Lezlie Weber presented an online live update on the Emergency Management Agency’s Facebook page Monday afternoon.

Crooks said they were aware of 11 properties in Floyd County that has structural damage, including the fairgrounds. Three houses “are not livable at this time” and several properties have uprooted trees.

Weber said anyone with damage caused by the storm should report it to the Floyd County Emergency Operations Center at 641-257-6144.
“It’s important to document damage, due to the possibility of a state or federal disaster declaration,” Weber said. “Make sure you’re documenting and taking photos.

“Photos are critical to make sure that you are tracking the storm damage before you start to clean up. You want to make sure to take photos from multiple angles. If there is possibility of a state and federal emergency declaration we must provide adequate documentation before an emergency can be declared,” she said.

Crooks said he was unaware of any roads closed in the county because of the tornado activity, but there were reports of some electrical lines down and he cautioned everyone to never drive over a downed line.

Crooks also asked people to avoid getting in the way of cleanup efforts.

“Please give the people some room who are trying to take care of their properties at this time,” he said. “Please, please, stay away from those affected areas so people can get work done.”

Weber said volunteers may be needed to help clean up this week, and information would be available on the Emergency Management Agency Facebook channel.

Aid for families affected by the storm is being coordinated through the Red Cross, she said, and she suggested that anyone who wants to donate money to help those affected should donated to the Red Cross.

Fair Board President Staudt said they would announce through social media and the press if and when additional volunteer help is needed at the fairgrounds.

She also said the Fair Board may look at building a designated storm shelter at the fairgrounds as it makes plans to rebuild.

Other damage from the storm includes extensive damage to buildings at Floyd County Ag Center, just across the highway from the fairgrounds.

There were also several trees down and reports of damage to buildings in the Maple Heights area north of Charles City off Gilbert Street.
Northeast of Charles City, law enforcement spotters reported multiple funnel clouds, one nearly a mile wide on Highway 63, heading toward Lime Springs. A tornado was seen near Elma at 1:14 p.m., and it touched down north of Lime Springs at 1:50 p.m.

— Press reporter James Grob contributed to this report.