2008 Woodie Awards
Boy Scouts at Iowa camp describe tornado's terror
Jason Noble
Issue date: 6/17/08 Section: Special Section
Once inside, they planned to ride out the storm by watching a movie, but the power went out. Within moments, the door blew open, and a scout leader shouted to take cover under the tables.
The scouts heard the wind and rain bearing down on them. It sounded "like freight trains coming at us," Zach said.
Zach grabbed his best friend at the camp and laid on top of him, trying to shield him from the flying debris.
"When it hit, it felt like I was getting shot at - there was rocks, dirt, grass, trees, everything," Zach said.
He took most of the shots in his back, he said.
The whole episode lasted about 30 seconds, Zach said, but he remembered it in vivid detail.
The tornado lifted a truck owned by a scout leader and flung it against the shelter's chimney. Once shaken, the chimney rose in the air, fell, rose again and then collapsed.
It was the chimney that killed the four scouts, Zach said.
The scene afterward was panicked, he said, but the scouts quickly began helping one another.
"There was screaming. Loud screaming," he said. "I'll never forget that."
Their training helped. The scouts just a day or two before had practiced emergency response and first aid techniques - skills they used in the long moments after the tornado passed.
"The Boy Scout motto is 'Be Prepared,'" he said. "We were prepared."
Zach arrived at a hospital in nearby Onawa around 8 p.m., and met up with his father a couple hours later. His mother arrived at 3 Thursday morning.
Four scouts were in serious but stable condition Thursday morning in a Sioux City, Iowa, hospital.
"We're pleased. They're doing pretty well," said Mike Krysl, a spokesman for Mercy Hospital in Sioux City.
Three of the teens were airlifted and another was brought by ambulance. The families of all four boys are present at the hospital, Krysl said.
Sioux City is about 40 miles north of Little Sioux.
Some of the other more seriously injured scouts may also have been taken to hospitals in Omaha, which is about 40 miles south of the camp, he said.
Several dozen more scouts were treated at smaller hospitals in Onawa and Missouri Valley, Krysl said.
These "walking wounded" sustained cuts and bruises in the storm, which leveled the shelter where the boys had taken cover.
The camp's proximity to large hospitals in both Sioux City and Omaha was fortuitous, Krysl said, ensuring that no one hospital was overwhelmed.
Krysl said his hospital was "inundated" throughout the night with calls from parents trying to find their children, underscoring the confusion wrought by the tornado.
The scouts heard the wind and rain bearing down on them. It sounded "like freight trains coming at us," Zach said.
Zach grabbed his best friend at the camp and laid on top of him, trying to shield him from the flying debris.
"When it hit, it felt like I was getting shot at - there was rocks, dirt, grass, trees, everything," Zach said.
He took most of the shots in his back, he said.
The whole episode lasted about 30 seconds, Zach said, but he remembered it in vivid detail.
The tornado lifted a truck owned by a scout leader and flung it against the shelter's chimney. Once shaken, the chimney rose in the air, fell, rose again and then collapsed.
It was the chimney that killed the four scouts, Zach said.
The scene afterward was panicked, he said, but the scouts quickly began helping one another.
"There was screaming. Loud screaming," he said. "I'll never forget that."
Their training helped. The scouts just a day or two before had practiced emergency response and first aid techniques - skills they used in the long moments after the tornado passed.
"The Boy Scout motto is 'Be Prepared,'" he said. "We were prepared."
Zach arrived at a hospital in nearby Onawa around 8 p.m., and met up with his father a couple hours later. His mother arrived at 3 Thursday morning.
Four scouts were in serious but stable condition Thursday morning in a Sioux City, Iowa, hospital.
"We're pleased. They're doing pretty well," said Mike Krysl, a spokesman for Mercy Hospital in Sioux City.
Three of the teens were airlifted and another was brought by ambulance. The families of all four boys are present at the hospital, Krysl said.
Sioux City is about 40 miles north of Little Sioux.
Some of the other more seriously injured scouts may also have been taken to hospitals in Omaha, which is about 40 miles south of the camp, he said.
Several dozen more scouts were treated at smaller hospitals in Onawa and Missouri Valley, Krysl said.
These "walking wounded" sustained cuts and bruises in the storm, which leveled the shelter where the boys had taken cover.
The camp's proximity to large hospitals in both Sioux City and Omaha was fortuitous, Krysl said, ensuring that no one hospital was overwhelmed.
Krysl said his hospital was "inundated" throughout the night with calls from parents trying to find their children, underscoring the confusion wrought by the tornado.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Charles Petit
posted 7/14/08 @ 4:12 AM CST
God Bless all these young men. True heroes. They are taking up all the duties of "Being Prepared", living the scout law and caring for one another and others in each new day in their lives. (Continued…)
Ashleejames
posted 11/22/08 @ 12:10 AM CST
The tornado that plunged an Iowa Boy Scout camp into chaos and terror, killing four Scouts and injuring dozens, struck with virtually no warning, survivors of the deadly twister said Thursday. (Continued…)
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