LITTLE SIOUX, Iowa, June 11, 2008
A Tornado's Tragic Toll
135-mph Twister Kills 4 Scouts In Iowa; Heroic Moments In Aftermath
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Iowa Gov On Tornado, Floods
Gov. Chet Culver talks to Russ Mitchell about keeping up with nature as more storms are expected to hit the state.
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Deadly Iowa Tornado Strike
Storms in Iowa bring a deadly tornado to a Boy Scout camp, killing at least four and injuring others. Elsewhere, the twister blows right over a car and it's caught on tape. Dave Price reports.
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Exclusive Iowa Tornado Video
The devastation of a Boy Scout camp in Iowa is captured on tape by Thomas White, a teen staffer. Dave Price talks to Thomas, his mother and a scout supervisor.
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Charlie Lough herded his cattle onto the porch of his farm house, before he fled to safety from the rising water of the Cedar River, Wednesday June 11, 2008 north of Vinton, Iowa. Flood waters have inundated the electric plant in Vinton and the entire city is now without power. (AP Photo/Steve Pope)
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Remains of a ranger's house at the Little Sioux Scout Ranch can be seen after a tornado ripped through the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in the remote Loess Hills, Iowa, June 11, 2008. (AP Photo/Loren Sawyer)
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Boy Scouts killed in the tornado, clockwise from top left: Josh Fennen, 13; Sam Thomsen, 13; Ben Petrzilka, 14, and Aaron Eilerts, 14. (CBS)
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Firefighters search the wreckage at the Little Sioux Scout Ranch after a tornado ripped through the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in the remote Loess Hills, Iowa, June 11, 2008. (AP/Loren Sawyer, Onawa Sentinel)
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A boy Scout is wheeled out of the West Harrison High School in Mondamin, Iowa, early Thursday morning, June 12, 2008. A tornado tore through a Boy Scout camp in the remote hills of western Iowa on Wednesday, killing at least four people and injuring 40, and setting off a frantic search to reach others in the piles of debris and downed trees. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
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Photo Essay
Twister Hits Scout Camp
Little or no warning before tornado hits camp in Iowa, killing four, injuring more than 40.
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Funnels Of Fury
Explore how and where tornadoes are formed and witness their destructive power.
Putting their first-aid training to use, they applied tourniquets and gauze to the injured. Some began digging victims from the rubble of a collapsed chimney. And others broke into an equipment shed, seized chainsaws and other tools, and started clearing fallen trees from a road.
Dozens of the Scouts, ages 13 to 18, were hailed for their bravery and resourcefulness Thursday, the morning after a tornado with windspeeds upwards of 135 miles an hour, reports CBS News correspondent Dave Price, killed four boys and left the Iowa camp unrecognizable.
"There were some real heroes at this Scout camp," Gov. Chet Culver said, adding that he believes the Scouts saved lives while they waited for paramedics to cut through the trees and reach the camp a mile into the woods.
The 93 boys, all elite Scouts attending a weeklong leadership training session, had taken part in a mock emergency drill with 25 staff members just a day before the twister hit.
"They knew what to do, they knew where to go, and they prepared well," said Lloyd Roitstein, an executive with the Mid-America Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
Among the dead were: Aaron Eilerts, 14, of Eagle Grove, Iowa, who was known as an outgoing friendly kid who loved Elvis Presley, reports Price; Josh Fennen, 13, of Omaha, who was described as creative, confident and a natural leader; Sam Thomsen, 13, of Omaha who was known to love scouting, sports and his church; and Ben Petrzilka, 14, of Omaha, who is said to have enjoyed the outdoors and liked to hunt and fish with his father.
Roitstein said all four had taken shelter in a building that was leveled, and all of them were found near its collapsed stone chimney. The governor said the cause of death had not been determined.
Scout supervisor Thomas White recalled riding out the storm in a ditch and then running to help.
"It was about five minutes after I was up there that I saw the scouts that had died," White told Davis. "But I stayed calm when I was up there cause one thing got to do is stay calm yourself so other people stay calm. Then it goes a lot smoother and people get taken care of and more peolpe survive."
At least a dozen people remained hospitalized Thursday with everything from bruises to spine and head injuries.
At the campsite, a pickup truck had been tossed on its side. Tree limbs rested on top of the Scouts' tents. Trees were flattened. And the one-room multipurpose building where the scouts died was a pile of cinderblocks and chimney stones.
Boy Scout officials said the campers had heard the severe weather alerts but decided not to leave because a storm was on the way.
"They were watching the weather and monitoring with a weather radio, listening for updates," said Deron Smith, a national spokesman for the organization. "The spot they were at was the lowest spot of camp. It was deemed to be the safest place."
A group of Scouts who had set out on a hike had returned to the camp before the storm hit, Smith said.
On the other side of the state, 3,900 homes were evacuated from flood-stricken Cedar Rapids, where rescuers removed people with boats, officials estimated 100 blocks were under water, and a railroad bridge over the flooded Cedar River collapsed.
In Albert Lea, Minn., 90 miles south of Minneapolis, a man died Thursday after his vehicle plunged from a washed-out road and was submerged in floodwaters.
Also Thursday, several Kansas communities began cleaning up from tornadoes a day earlier that killed at least two people, destroyed much of the small town of Chapman, and caused extensive damage on the Kansas State University campus.
Meanwhile, tales of heroism emerged from the Iowa camp.
Roitstein said a group of scouts pulled the camp ranger and his family from their destroyed home. Doug Rothgeb of Omaha said his 15-year-old son emerged from a ditch where he had taken cover, then joined other scouts to break into the equipment shed.
Fourteen-year-old Zach Jessen of Fremont, Neb., said that before the storm struck, someone spotted the rotation in the clouds and a siren sounded in the multipurpose building, which had tables and a TV in addition to a fireplace. Jessen said he and others managed to get Scouts out of their tents and indoors just before the tornado hit. According to Roitstein, the Scouts took shelter in three buildings.
Jessen said shortly afterward, the door on the multipurpose building flew open and he heard someone yelling to get under the tables.
"All of a sudden, the tornado came and took the building," Jessen said. "It sounded like a giant freight train going right over the top of you."
Jessen said shortly afterward, the door on the multipurpose building flew open and he heard someone yelling to get under the tables.
Ethan Hession, 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 on NBC's "Today" show.
Ethan said the scouts' first-aid training immediately compelled them to act.
"We were prepared," he said. "We knew that we need to place tourniquets on wounds that were bleeding too much. We knew we need to apply pressure and gauze. We had first-aid kits, we had everything. We knew about this, we knew how to do it."
He added: "All of a sudden people started taking action. Like it just clicked. One of the staff members took off his shirt and put it right on the guy who was bleeding and told me to get on top of him so he would stop moving so he could apply pressure and gauze. We started digging people out of the rubble."
The 1,800-acre Little Sioux Scout Ranch is in the Loess Hills in westernmost Iowa, close to the Nebraska line, about 40 miles north of Omaha. The hills rise 200 feet above the plains in what is otherwise an exceedingly flat state. While tornadoes are often associated with flat, open land, Iowa is in Tornado Alley, and forecasters said twisters are not unusual in the Loess Hills.
The camp includes hiking trails through narrow valleys and over steep hills, a 15-acre lake and a rifle range.
Lisa Petry, the mother of 13-year-old Boy Scout Jose Olivo, said she had a bad feeling Wednesday morning when she heard reports of possible severe weather. "I thought, `Should I call the scout camp and ask if there's severe weather, where will they go?"' she said.
The governor would not address questions about whether the Scouts should have remained at the campground after severe weather alerts were issued.
"There's always lessons learned from any natural disaster, from any tragedy," Culver said. "We need to focus on the victims, the families affected."
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff toured the camp and said it appeared that the Boy Scouts "didn't have a chance" and that the tornado came through the camp "like a bowling ball."
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 102 Commentsyour an idiot. gay goofs are the narrow minded thinking their way should be accepted and if not, they are going to cry like little shiiiitssss and sue. only cowards sue, sounds like you are a coward, idiot, and a straight basher. man, idiot you are.
And to you gopsux..get a life, if you think everyone is bashing *** you really arent giving gay people a good name and grow a pair and quit being a little pansy and posting unwanted *** on this wall.
For goodness sake, some of you fools should put your brains into gear before you open your mouths, how much more idiotic garbage is to be posted on such a serious subject.
Get a life.
I will also say that anyone who thinks gopsux is actually posting the liberal or gay point of view has their head even further up their own as*s then he does. he''s a troll. Grow up.
we must all put our energies toward these children and all those who have and will be affected by this loss.
gopsux, watch you back
i am very thankful your nephew is ok. just need to put our thoughts and energies to all of the boys, staff, and parents to these boys, so very painful to read and feel their fear.
Posted by loneeagle57
a). George and *** called the guy that opened up all the leeves in New Orleans - this in turned created the tornado.
b). This prooves Global warming exists
c). The BS gets punished because they are anti-gay.
d). George and *** used the leftover dynamite from 9/11. They did 9/11 and created this tornado.
You libs are trully sickening and discussing. This just shows you how much your party does not care about human society. This is not a political issue and should not be treated that way. To suggest this is shows liberals are stupid but not surprising and this coming from someone who used to be like them. Never again ! To the families of the boy scouts, my prayers. I used to be a boy scout too and do remember being in weather like this.
You are all equally disgusting. Grow up!
This is a very tragic story. There is a section on CBS boards for politics...take your garbage there.
CBS: Out of all the sites that allow comments, CBS by far attracts the most vile and disgusting of posters. Why? Because YOU don''t moniter your boards properly. Enforce your rules of engagement!
In case you didn''t notice I was TRYING to get a troll to stop using this story for political purposes, so get over yourself!
I really hope you haven''t taken on the task of teaching your children about God by yourself. If you truly think that this tornado was sent by God to kill children to teach pedophiles a lesson , you might want to seek therapy. Or if you think God is so vengeful, you might want to watch your own back, no telling what he might do to you for saying these evil things about him!
Folks. These forums on CBS are completely evil.
Posted by CBSisunfair
Then why do you keep reading and posting on it? Go somewhere else with your bible thumping.
Peace
Posted by CBSisunfair (singinrick, rick miASSe, jankebenz, truthword08, Providence_D and 1,000 other alias)
RICK, when you posted once that you reported people over FOURTY times one night, when you post the paranoia that your account was allegedly ''hacked into'' by an ''atheist'' when your paranoia of reporting people for ''impersonating'' you or your account you are creating an ENORMOUS amount of unwanted extra work for the CBS staffers, in short you have made yourself an annoying PEST and THAT is why your account gets deleted- YOU are the one abusing the boards, get over yourself.
If you don''t like how it is here, there''s a thousand other boards you can spew your religious reich material on.
I might also add your admission that you assulted two g@y men in a public stadium by tossing a drink on them- a crime for which a CBS story this week shows two teens were arrested and charged with battery for!
This has been occurring on these forums for about 4 months now, and myself, and other Christians have noticed
Posted by CBSisunfair (singinrick etc)
Yeah yeah Rick, you mean you and your hundreds of alias you have been using all these months to attack others who don''t believe in YOUR brand of deity.
Posted by CBSisunfair"
Oh but RICK, it''s ok for Pat Roberts and his ilk to publicly blame G@YS and the acceptance of them as gods wrath/punishment for the same natural disasters, citing the buybull etc RIGHT?
Posted by loneeagle57
to all the boys, scout master, voluteers, and parents of the boys who went out to have fun learning, hiking and have an adventure,,,,,I pray for strength, understanding, and comfort in this terrible tragedy. no child deserves to be scared, scared, hurt, or the feeling of being alone.
we must all put our energies toward these children and all those who have and will be affected by this loss.
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How long must we sit idly by while our mother continues to suffer from the warming taking place at a feverish pace? How long must our mother suffer before we have proper c02 taxes put into place? How long must the destruction of mother earth take place before we finally put progressive regulations into effect? How long must we wait until we beef up our corn ethanol production? At least Obama wants to cut c02 pollution by 80%; he is definitely our best hope. As Obama has recently stated on Earth Day, we will save the planet. We will change our economy to a green economy, eliminate our current anti-progressive economy, and eliminate c02 pollution by 80% in our generation. This is a change we all definitely need, a much needed change for the better.
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We the people call upon the governor to implement a comprehensive antiglobal warming strategy at once and work in coordination with state and federal officials; these tornadoes and storms continue to worsen and the quicker we stop the warming the sooner we will see these storms cease. We need action now.
Posted by loneeagle57
to all the boys, scout master, voluteers, and parents of the boys who went out to have fun learning, hiking and have an adventure,,,,,I pray for strength, understanding, and comfort in this terrible tragedy. no child deserves to be scared, scared, hurt, or the feeling of being alone.
we must all put our energies toward these children and all those who have and will be affected by this loss.
The scouts may not have had availiable shelter in spite of a warning, but it would have been better than
nothing. With the Spring tornadoe season in the Nation being well above normal, every household should have a NOAA weather radio. New homes that are being built in tornadoes prone areas should have concrete "safe rooms" built. Homes already built may be able to add them.
In trailer parks the NOAA radio would be invaluable. Oftens residents can''t afford them, but the Federal and state governments should have a program to distribute them at no charge to those that can''t afford them.
Tornadoes are dangerous. Warinigs help to save lives.
Posted by AL2008
You notice that this story is another opportunity for Democrats to slam the government and show their Endless Hate Rage and Anger at any subject. Democrats don%u2019t give a Damnn about Dead People. Democrats care about Political Agenda.
%u201CDo not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you (Matthew 7:12).%u201D
You are sinning right now by lying and saying you are perfect. Only God is perfect. You are far from it.
Posted by demslie
Just go to he11 - AL2008 has been posting the same piece of garbage with a different name at the top for weeks now. He''s not representative of democrats in any way shape or form.
Posted by karlo59
Karlos59
Let me guess, you are not an American?
Posted by drputt45
I don''t know why people make fun of soccer moms. Soccermoms or any moms who are involved with their children in numerous kinds of activities from home work, to any sports or dance or music are busy raising the next generation of functional adults. They should be applauded. Children who are left to raise themselves are the ones who end up in gangs and ultimately prison. They are the ones the rest of us spend our lives supporting in the prison system. Raising children to be funnctional adults who work and pay taxes and contribute to society is important and honorable work. I always had to work when my kids were young, and I felt very fortunate to have been able to find people who cared for my children as I would have if I hadn''t been in the work force.
Posted by AL2008
Al, Al, Your posts are so boring and redundant. Climate change has been going on since the earth was created. It has been estimated that the earth is about 4.5 billion years old. People came on the scene about 30,000 years ago which if you compare the time element to a 24 hour clock, puts peoples'' influence during the last ten minutes of time. What do you say about all the climate changes that occurred before man''s influence?
Yesterday, you said, "You will learn to live responsibly." I said that I live in a 600 sq. ft. apartment 3 blocks from work, and I drive a 1999 Ford Aspire. It has been years since I took off on any kind of a road trip.
I asked you to tell us about your last three vacations, and tell us about your house. You never answered.
Why won''''t you tell us?
Posted by loneeagle57
to all the boys, scout master, voluteers, and parents of the boys who went out to have fun learning, hiking and have an adventure,,,,,I pray for strength, understanding, and comfort in this terrible tragedy. no child deserves to be scared, scared, hurt, or the feeling of being alone.
we must all put our energies toward these children and all those who have and will be affected by this loss.
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