Four teenagers die as tornado destroys scout campsite in US

Published on Thursday 12 June 2008 22:04

A TORNADO ripped through makeshift shelters in a scout camp, killing four teenage boys and injuring dozens of others.

Close to 100 boy scouts scrambled for safety in shelters at the Little Sioux scout ranch when the tornado hit on Wednesday evening, one of more than 30 twisters that ripped across the midwestern United States into the night.

"We had no warning really at all," Thomas White, a scout leader, said yesterday. He said scouts were watching the clouds and a lightning storm when they saw a funnel form in the sky and began to run.

"It hit and all the doors flew open and it popped my ears," said Rob Logsdon, 15. "The walls and the porch and the roof just disappeared. I got hit by a table in the back."

The boys killed at the camp were identified as two 13-year-olds and one 14-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska, along with a 13-year-old from Eagle Grove, Iowa.

At least two tornado warnings were issued for Little Sioux before the twister struck on Wednesday evening.

Hal Emas, 14, said 40 boys huddled in one shelter when a siren blared and the scout leader shouted: "Under the table!"

"Two seconds later, the walls blew out. It lasted for about ten seconds," he told the Des Moines Register.

Ethan Hession, also 13, said he crawled under a table with his friend. "I just remember looking over at my friend, and all of a sudden he just says to me, 'Dear God, save us'," he said.

"Then I just closed my eyes and all of a sudden it's gone (the tornado]."

Felled trees and debris strewn across the devastated campsite were visible from first light yesterday.

Lloyd Roitstein, a scout leader, said the shelters were not built to withstand tornado-force winds. He said the campers knew foul weather was on the way and tried to prepare. But the tornado hit too fast.

Officials said 94 campers and 24 adults were at the camp for a week-long training event. Forty-eight people were injured, including many who yesterday remained in hospital.

Dave Heineman, Nebraska's governor, described the scene as one of utter devastation. "In some ways, it is amazing we didn't lose more lives than we did," he said. Rescue efforts at the 1,800-acre camp, nestled in wooded hills in western Iowa, were hampered by downed trees, lightning strikes and heavy rain.

Many of the boy scouts, who had emergency training only a day before, quickly began helping one another.

"There were some real heroes," said Chet Culver, Iowa's governor.

Tragedies have befallen boy scout troops over the years, including two deadly lightning strikes in the summer of 2005, the same year four scout leaders were killed in Virginia in front of horrified boys when a tent pole touched a power line.

More than 30 tornadoes were reported on Wednesday across Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota, some accompanied by baseball-sized hail.

The storms compounded damage from rampant flooding that forced thousands of people from their homes in the midwest.

In Kansas, twisters killed two people and injured dozens, with 60 houses destroyed, said Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for state emergency management operations.

One ripped to pieces part of Kansas State University's campus, with damage estimated to exceed 10 million, said Tom Rawson, a vice-president for administration and finance.

"The damage on campus is extensive," he said. "Roofs have been damaged or torn off, windows have been blown out in many buildings."

Authorities said one person was found dead in a yard in the town of Chapman, and three people were critically injured and taken to a hospital in Junction City. The other Kansas victim was found outside a mobile home in the town of Soldier, Mr Rawson said.

In Minnesota, a twister ripped much of a house from its foundations, and left a bathtub protruding from a back wall, near Fulda, 140 miles south-west of Minneapolis.

A woman inside at the time was lucky: she only suffered a knee injury.

IN NUMBERS

80

the number of people killed by tornadoes every year on average across the US

250 mph

typical speed of a tornado

50

miles of destruction can be caused by just one twister, with the line of damage typically a mile wide

100

tornadoes a year are reported in Canada – the second-worst-hit country in the world (ten times fewer than the worst-hit United States)

33

tornadoes are reported every year in Britain, more relative to land area than any other country – but most are weak

695

people were killed by the deadliest tornado in history, on 18 March, 1925, in the US

105

tornadoes were reported across England on 21 November, 1981