Iowa, Minnesota towns survey tornado damage

PARKERSBURG, Iowa -- Half of this small town lay in ruins or heavily damaged Monday following a deadly tornado that ripped apart a stretch of northern Iowa.

The Sunday afternoon twister killed six people in Iowa, four of them in Parkersburg and two others in nearby New Hartford. In neighboring Minnesota, a child was killed by violent weather in a suburb of St. Paul.

"You really are overwhelmed when you see it," Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said at a news conference Monday after touring the Parkersburg area. "You can't imagine this kind of devastation, homes completely gone. And to see people trying to sort through their belongings is very difficult."

Rescuers continued picking through the wreckage in search of possible victims but officials said they were hopeful that no one else remained to be found.

In addition to those killed, about 70 people were injured, two of them in critical condition.

In Parkersburg, officials counted 222 homes destroyed, 21 businesses destroyed and more than 400 homes damaged. Among the buildings destroyed were city hall, the high school and the town's sole grocery store and gas station.

That's about half of the homes in Parkersburg destroyed or severely damaged, said Butler County Sheriff Jason Johnson.

Warning sirens sounded early enough to give residents time to seek shelter, said Parkersburg Mayor Bob Haylock.

"Without that, we would have a tremendous amount of injuries and loss of life," Haylock said. "People were down in their basements and waiting it out."

However, Haylock said most of those killed in Parkersburg were in basements. All were adults, he said.

The storm struck just after 5 p.m. Sunday, following an east-to-west path just a few miles north of the Waterloo area. It hit Parkersburg, New Hartford and then Dunkerton, about 50 miles east of Parkersburg. About 80 miles to the southwest, the Des Moines area had heavy rain and wind that gusted to 70 mph.

North of St. Paul, Minn., the tornado that struck the town of Hugo on Sunday killed 2-year-old Nathaniel Prindle and injured his young sister, Washington County officials said. The boy's father and his 4-year-old sister were hospitalized in stable condition, and his mother was released after treatment, authorities said.

Hugo resident Marvin Miller found Nathaniel's parents, his neighbors, trapped in the debris of their home.

"They just kept screaming 'My children, my children!' Miller said Monday.

The National Weather Service confirmed Monday that the storm was a tornado. The American Red Cross said 27 homes were destroyed and 16 more had major damage. Another 75 had minor damage.