Free Republic

CEDAR FALLS, IOWA -- Standing near a mound of rotting floorboards and door frames outside his home near the Cedar River, Steve Aldrich shouted to the volunteers who had driven 1,000 miles to muck out his finished basement and carve 4 feet of soaked drywall from the walls of the first floor. "I love you guys, thank you so much," he said as he headed off to the city planning department of the Midwestern university town, hoping to learn whether he would have to raise his house a foot above the 100-year flood plain in order to rebuild. "I'll be...

Click on the link for a great video report on the attempt by Democrat Rep. James Oberstar and unions to shut down the 1926 passenger steamboat Delta Queen, which sails America's inland rivers.

DES MOINES -- Republican Congressman Steve King carries a copy of the Constitution with him everywhere he goes. He said it reminds him of the oath he took when first elected in 2002 to Congress. King stressed at Saturday's GOP state convention that Constitution could come under fire if Sen. Barack Obama is elected in November. "If we don't exercise our rights, we will lose them," said King, noting he has defended the Constitution even when it wasn't popular, cheap or easy. "Even when we have a Constitution (we think) is a guarantee that doesn't mean it is a guarantee...

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, in his bid for a fifth term, still holds a 16-point lead over Republican challenger Christopher Reed. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Iowa voters finds Harkin ahead 52% to 36%. When “leaners” are included, the incumbent leads 55% to 37%. Last month, Harkin led his challenger 53% to 37%. The Democrat is currently chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, a key position for a farming state like Iowa.

Soldiers bring back uplifting stories from KosovoStaff Sgt. David Klein plans to make good on a promise he recently made to a Kosovo barber. Sgt. John "Chico" Oberfoell is exchanging his U.S. Army equipment for baseball bats and gloves.Hundreds of people welcomed back Klein and Oberfoell along with about 90 other Iowa Army National Guard soldiers Friday morning at the Peosta Community Centre. Last year, approximately 330 soldiers were mobilized from the 1st Battalion, 194th Field Artillery and Company A, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry for a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. Other homecomings took place Friday around the state in Algona,...

U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell was recovering well Thursday from "corrective surgery" and will return to work soon, an aide to the five-term congressman said. "Doctors expect he will return to work in short order," Susan McAvoy, Boswell's chief of staff, said in a statement. The statement didn't offer a timeline for Boswell's recovery. The surgery on Wednesday in a Washington, D.C., hospital came about three years after doctors removed a non-cancerous mass from Boswell's abdomen. Though the mass wasn't cancerous, the 74-year-old Boswell underwent radiation treatment after the procedure. Boswell declined to offer further details at the time, citing medical...

Local scouts donate to Little Sioux camp The Boy Scouts of Troop 66 on Fort Leavenworth were recognized Wednesday for donating $1,074 to help rebuild the Little Sioux Scout Ranch near Little Sioux, Iowa. The ranch was nearly destroyed when a tornado touched down in the camp on June 11, leaving at least four people dead and more than 40 injured. Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, commanding general of Fort Leavenworth, congratulated the scouts on a job well done. Lt. Col. Chip Bircher said his son, Brion Bircher, wanted to help the scouts affected by the tragedy after seeing...

QUAD CITIES -- Wednesday all Genesis Medical Center Pediatric Clinics suspended their use of childhood vaccines. The decision comes after a baby received routine vaccinations on Tuesday, then died several hours later at home. Genesis Health Group says its suspending pediatric vaccinations merely as a precaution until the cause of the baby's death can be determined. Tuesday morning a 4-month-old baby boy came to the Genesis East Pediatrics Clinic in Silvis for a routine checkup that included several vaccinations. The seemingly healthy baby boy was brought in for a "well baby" visit, that's a check up that includes routine vaccinations...

CEDAR RAPIDS - Two supervisors at the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville on Thursday became the first known members of the company's management to be arrested after a federal immigration raid of the company in May. A federal arrest warrant has been issued for another Agriprocessors employee whose whereabouts are unknown. Juan Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza, 35, and Martin De La Rosa-Loera, 43, are accused of encouraging illegal immigrants to work at the plant, in some cases even helping them obtain false documents before the raid. The two men were arrested at Agriprocessors on Thursday morning by U.S. marshals and were...

Scores of heavily armed federal agents last month stormed into Agriprocessors, which produces up to 70 percent of all kosher meat in America. The feds seized almost 400 of the plant's 900 workers in the largest single roundup of illegal immigrants to date, charging about 300 of them with identity theft and using stolen Social Security cards. Some of those workers have since sued the company, alleging abuse, fraud and sexual coercion. Postville, which once sold T-shirts boasting of the peaceful coexistence of its many cultures, has been left "absolutely shattered," said the Rev. Paul Ouderkirk of the town's St....

Des Moines, IA (AHN) - The marine dead zone resulting from the Midwest flooding is expected to expand to over 10,000 square miles, according to researchers from the Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. The water in the dead zone, approximately the size of Massachusetts, does not have sufficient oxygen at depth to support marine life. Since 1990, the zone, located off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas, usually covers 6,000 square miles, varying according to the flow of the Mississippi River. Its low oxygen content is caused by the presence of large algae blooms which feeds...

Vandals stoned and beat to death about 50 ducks, including some that were just days old, at the Bever Park Children's Zoo overnight. A zoo employee discovered the dead birds around 7 a.m. this morning. Some were floating in a pond, and others were piled up near a broken rake. Dave Smith, the city parks superintendent, said whoever was responsible broke the lock on the front gate to the pen and broke into two of the three night houses where the birds are kept overnight. They believe at least one person herded the ducks together while someone else did the...

As Senator Barack Obama courted voters in Iowa last December, Representative Keith Ellison, the country’s first Muslim congressman, stepped forward eagerly to help. Mr. Ellison ...volunteered to speak on Mr. Obama’s behalf at a mosque in Cedar Rapids, one of the nation’s oldest Muslim enclaves. But before the rally could take place, aides to Mr. Obama asked Mr. Ellison to cancel the trip because it might stir controversy. Another aide appeared at Mr. Ellison’s Washington office to explain. “I will never forget the quote,” Mr. Ellison said, leaning forward in his chair as he recalled the aide’s words. “He said,...

During the week after Father’s Day, I received a number of interesting emails from readers asking me to write about the dearth of looting after the recent floods in Iowa. Specifically, they wanted me to write about the reason there was so much more looting in New Orleans after Katrina hit the “Chocolate City” in 2005. Of course, the problem involves so much more than race – a factor most people are thinking about, even if they won’t admit it...

When VeraSun Energy inaugurated a new ethanol processing plant last summer in Charles City, Iowa, some of that industry’s most prominent boosters showed up. Leaders of the National Corn Growers Association and the Renewable Fuels Association, for instance, came to help cut the ribbon — and so did Senator Barack Obama. Skip to next paragraph Related To Ease Gas Prices, Obama Eyes Speculators (June 23, 2008) Times Topics: Barack Obama Blog The Caucus The latest political news from around the nation. Join the discussion. Election Guide More Politics News Then running far behind Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in name recognition...

It was only a matter of time until the mainstream media began ramping up global warming alarmism by connecting flooding in the Midwest to climate change. ABC’s “World News with Charles Gibson” took a page out of the alarmists’ playbook – connecting natural disasters to global warming, which according to the broadcast is caused by mankind’s use of fossil fuels. The segment, which led off the network’s June 19 broadcast, cited a government report that stated there’s definitive evidence such a link exists. “[T]oday, the administration report draws a clear link between this destructive and severe weather and the fossil...

Record prices for gasoline and jet fuel should be good news for Amtrak, as travelers look for alternatives to cut the cost of driving and flying. And they are good news, up to a point. Amtrak set records in May, both for the number of passengers it carried and for ticket revenues — all the more remarkable because May is not usually a strong travel month. But the railroad, and its suppliers, have shrunk so much, largely because of financial constraints, that they would have difficulty growing quickly to meet the demand. Many of the long-distance trains are already sold...

Des Moines, IA (AHN) - The flooding of the Mississippi River has brought out to the open the fact that half of 31 levees between southern Iowa and St. Louis are dated and could no longer withstand the river's rampaging waters.According to the Army Corps of Engineers the majority of the levees were build three decades ago, while some were as old as 6 decades. With a National Weather Service forecast of more rains and higher waters on the river, the army engineers fear at least 18 of the levees would give way and this would result to worst flooding...

They while away the long hours behind drawn shutters, in front of televisions tuned to Spanish-language soap operas. Though they realize it's irrational, many of them still live in fear that immigration agents will return, crash into their homes with drawn guns, yell obscenities at them, call them dogs, and drag them away amidst screams and tears. That's what happened May 12, when the largest, single-site workplace immigration raid in U.S. history engulfed this small Iowa town. The raid targeted hundreds of undocumented workers at the Agriprocessors, Inc. kosher meatpacking plant, which dominates the local economy. Over a third of...

"Where are all of the Hollywood celebrities holding telethons asking for help in restoring Iowa and helping the folks affected by the floods? Where is all the media asking the tough questions about why the federal government hasn't solved the problem? Asking where the FEMA trucks (and trailers) are? Why isn't the Federal Government relocating Iowa people to free hotels in Chicago? When will Spike Lee say that the Federal Government blew up the levees that failed in Des Moines? Where are Sean Penn and the Dixie Chicks? Where are all the looters stealing high-end tennis shoes and big screen...

A young man got caught in the river's rage while trying to recover more of his folks belongings. He died in those merciless waters. At the rate the river was moving, it boggles the mind that his body could be recovered. Yet instead of being swept away, he was found relatively close by. God was hanging onto him for his family's sake. Perfect strangers were driving up to people's houses and would just start loading belongings. No questions asked, just pitching in. Getting people and parts of their life to safety. God was the matchmaker, giving people that could help...

CHICAGO — The debate about whether Senator John McCain is “McBush’’ continues, but on Thursday one thing will be clear: The presumptive Republican nominee and President Bush will be in Iowa touring areas hard hit by floods. Mr. McCain’s campaign said on Wednesday that he had decided to cancel a town-hall-style meeting in Minnesota on Thursday morning and visit Columbus Junction, a city of fewer than 2,000 residents.

Maybe I missed it because I have been doing my best to not watch CNN, but I don't think Anderson Cooper has rented a rowboat and paddled around Cedar Rapids or Des Moines with a concerned look on his face. If it wasn't Cooper who paddled around New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, I apologize; but even if he didn't go out in a boat, he was at the edge of the water with a concerned look on his face. CNN has been on in our house far too much lately, what with the prolonged presidential campaigns and what...

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The flood waters of Iowa has just started to recede, but America is already feeling the impact of the flood on corn prices which hit $8 a bushel on Monday. After preliminary reports of poor harvest for July delivery came out, corn price went up to $6 a bushel in late May and closed $7.325 a bushel on Monday at the Chicago Board of Trade. Corn contracts for later months even exceeded $8 and then lowered a bit at $8. Iowa, one of the largest corn and soybean producer in the U.S. was flooded by as...

OAKVILLE, Iowa -- Southeastern Iowa and other parts of the Midwest filled sandbags in anticipation of the Mississippi River's wrath Tuesday as the rest of Iowa began the slow move from protection to cleanup. The federal government predicts that 27 levees could potentially overflow along the river if the weather forecast is on the mark and a massive sandbagging effort fails to raise the level of the levees, according to a map obtained Monday by the Associated Press.

The historic flooding of the Cedar River last week sent water into the Mother Mosque of America, likely destroying nearly a century's worth of records, documents and artifacts, officials said Monday. Imam Taha Tawil, executive director of the mosque, 1335 Ninth St. SW, said no one expected the floodwaters to come as far as the building, the oldest surviving mosque in the United States. "I couldn't even believe that this would happen or that it would come close to us," Tawil said Monday. "In 1993 I was there, and it didn't reach even Second or Third Street." Tawil said he...

Status Quo-oh A catastrophe for Iowa farmers will not be just a catastrophe for Midwestern Americans. In the Iowa floods, we'll see more evidence of how the problems of weird weather (climate change) combine and ramify the problems associated with peak oil. In this particular case they lead to an inflection point sometime around the 2008 harvest season, which will also be our time of political harvest. These are not your daddy's or granddaddy's floods. These are 500-year floods, events not seen before non-Indian people starting living out on that stretch of the North American prairie. The vast majority of...

6/16/2008 - CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AFPN) -- One hundred-fifty Air National Guardsmen from the 185th Air Refueling Wing in Sioux City, Iowa, landed at The Eastern Iowa Airport June 15 to augment the 295 already working with Army National Guard and state agencies in Cedar Rapids as flood waters recede from what is being called the 500-year mark. This is one of the largest operations for the wing in several years. It's also the first time in recent memory the Iowa ANG has been recalled for duty by the state. "I've been in for 22 years and this is the...

Flooding in the Midwest has swelled rivers and submerged roads and rails, halting or delaying shipments of food, fuel and other goods. Manufacturers also have been forced to suspend production of everything from oatmeal to pork products. At the earliest, barge, road and rail traffic will get back to normal next week. But companies are focused on getting through the weekend, when at least one river is expected to crest at nearly 32 feet, making it possible that the transportation snags could drag on. Union Pacific Corp., the nation's biggest freight railroad, currently has six mainline tracks out of service...

CEDAR RAPIDS - In preparation for the immense recovery and rebuilding efforts our community will face, The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation today opened the Flood 2008 Fund for flood relief and recovery donation. This fund will support nonprofit organizations in Linn County who are providing first-response efforts and ongoing recovery and rebuilding throughout Linn County. The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation encourages donors to support first-responders like the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the United Way of East Central Iowa. The Flood 2008 Fund will support these organizations immediately as well as funding recovery and rebuilding efforts...

If the terrible Midwest floods have a silver lining, it is the grit and self-reliance that residents have shown in coping with the disaster. Iowans in particular haven't blamed everyone else for their version of Katrina. They've been following orders on when to evacuate, volunteering to lay sandbags to protect still-dry areas, and are already planning how they'll clean up the mess when the floodwaters subside. The worst floods in 15 years have done enormous damage, especially in the industrial city of Cedar Rapids. The Cedar River crested at some 31 feet on Friday, compared to 19 feet during the...

Have you all noticed that Cedar Rapids is under 10 feet of water. Thousands upon thousands of people are displaced? Have you noticed that nobody is looting every empty property in site? Have you noticed that nobody is shooting at rescuers? Have you noticed any victims on TV wondering where the federal government is to 'take care of them'? Or, have you noticed victims, who have lost everything, make comments like 'life goes on', 'we'll just need to pick up the pieces and start over', and 'at least we still have our life'. Maybe Barak could help make victims of...

The streets in Cedar Rapids, Iowa - all 400 blocks of them - were filled with floodwaters and other strange sights: floating Dumpsters and utility poles and sandbags piled in vain. The cresting Cedar River wreaked widespread havoc Friday on Iowa's second-largest city, forcing the evacuation of 3,000 homes and a downtown hospital while collapsing a railroad bridge.

On occasion in this space, I like to keep abreast of our more famous University of Northern Iowa graduates. Since I am an art aficionado, I have tried in the past to keep current on the times and career of Justin Case, UNI's most celebrated art graduate. As the regular readers of this column will recall, Case was concerned about modern art. Most of it is ugly and unskilled, but justified by the art community by three rather loose rules or constructs. First, true art must make us think. Second, true art must create emotion and challenge convention. This is...

DES MOINES — Officials on Friday issued a voluntary evacuation order for much of downtown Des Moines and other areas bordering the river. Officials recommended that downtown residents and businesses evacuate parts of downtown on either side of the Des Moines River by 6 p.m. Friday. Included are all areas in Des Moines' 500 year floodplain. The alert was prompted by rising river levels expected to peak at 8 p.m. Friday. Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie said they are asking for the evacuations "to err on the side of citizens and residents." The evacuation should begin immediately, Cownie said, and...

Rising water from the Cedar River forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital Friday after residents of more than 3,000 homes fled for higher ground. A railroad bridge collapsed, and 100 city blocks were under water. Cedar Rapids was the hardest-hit city in Iowa, where Gov. Chet Culver declared 83 of the state's 99 counties as state disaster areas and nine rivers were at or above historic flood levels. Elsewhere in the upper Midwest, rivers and streams tipping their banks forced evacuations, closed roads, and even threatened drinking water. The hospital's 176 patients, including about 30 patients in a nursing...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - The Cedar River poured over its banks Thursday, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 homes, causing a railroad bridge to collapse and leaving cars underwater on downtown streets. Officials estimated that 100 blocks were underwater in Cedar Rapids, where several days of preparation could not hold back the rain-swollen river. Rescuers had to use boats to reach many stranded residents, and people could be seen dragging suitcases up closed highway exit ramps to escape the water. "We're just kind of at God's mercy right now, so hopefully people that never prayed before this, it...

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2008 – Governors in four of six Midwestern states affected by heavy rains and subsequent flooding called out more than 2,000 National Guard members this week as flood waters forced residents from their homes, left thousands without power and damaged infrastructure. Army Spc. Joseph Stamm, 1st Battalion, 151st Infantry, helps residents load sandbags into their vehicle in Martinsville, Ind. Flash floods tore through the area after more than 10 inches of rain poured over the already saturated land. U.S. Army photo by Spc. William E. Henry, Indiana National Guard  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The...

Des Moines, IA (AHN) - Aside from possibly breaking the state flood records, the inundation of Des Moines may result in higher food prices as Iowa's corn, wheat and other crops are destroyed by the flood. The threat of excessive downpour on the country's agriculture produce has been aired by farmers groups who had forecast a 10 percent reduction in national harvest this year even if weather conditions would improve in the coming months. This early, the Department of Agriculture had forecast a 3 percent decline in the country's corn harvest. The lesser corn output, combined with competition from ethanol...

KCCI is getting early word tonight of a tornado touchdown that hit a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa, injuring as many as 40 people. Our sister station in Omaha, KETV, reports that the Boy Scouts confirm four of those injuries are fatalities. Courtney Greene, a spokeswoman for Governor Chet Culver, says the tornado hit the Little Sioux scout camp. Speaking from the state Emergency Operations Center, which is mobilized because of flooding across Iowa, Greene said authorities have been told of multiple injuries and the potential loss of life. Hospitals in the area have been told to be on...

A possible tornado has struck the Litle (spelling from site?) Sioux Scout Camp in Iowa. Very large response is being reported by media. Large number of injuries.

WATERLOO — One-half of the Sixth Street railroad bridge over the Cedar River in downtown Waterloo has washed away in the flood waters. Half the bridge remains. We will provide more details as they become available. Also, the city of Cedar Falls has now expanded its area of evacuation.

PUBLIC SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 0354 AM CDT THU JUN 05 2008 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OUTBREAK EXPECTED FROM THE EASTERN HALF OF THE PLAINS INTO THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OK IS FORECASTING WIDESPREAD DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS...STRONG TORNADOES AND LARGE HAIL OVER A LARGE PART OF THE EASTERN PLAINS AND THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT. THE AREAS MOST LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE THIS ACTIVITY INCLUDE MUCH OF IOWA CENTRAL AND EASTERN KANSAS SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL MINNESOTA WESTERN AND NORTHERN MISSOURI CENTRAL AND EASTERN NEBRASKA...

Election night found Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks at The Hotel Ottumwa, huddled with friends and supporters as the votes came in for an agonizingly close contest. Miller-Meeks held a slim lead of just more than 100 votes over rival Peter Teahen by 10:30 p.m. The race for the Republican nominee to challenge Rep. Dave Loebsack for Iowa’s Second Congressional District was down to those two. Some sat quietly, studying online returns on a pair of laptop computers. Others eyed returns that scrolled across the bottom of the screen as David Letterman talked. People swung between tension and excitement as the evening...

DES MOINES — On a recent evening here, Greg Tew, 28, considered the question: What is it like to work in a state that is creating more jobs than workers? He was sitting in the lobby of a new hotel in downtown Des Moines, part of an extensive redevelopment investment to attract workers to Iowa. “It is noticeable,” Mr. Tew, a computer programmer at EMC Insurance Companies, said of the jobs surplus. “You’re a hot commodity. Salaries go up just because companies are fighting to retain the talent they have.”

WASHINGTON, May 29, 2008 – About 175 Iowa National Guard soldiers and airmen are serving on state active duty in support of tornado-relief and -recovery missions for northeastern Iowa. The servicemembers were activated the evening of May 26 and the next morning following tornadoes and severe storms in the Butler County area May 25. It is estimated the soldiers and airmen will remain on duty for the next several days. With numerous power lines down, leakage from damaged vehicles, severed natural gas lines, debris, rubble and unstable structures, about 160 soldiers from 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry, are providing security and...

Public Severe Weather Outlook ZCZC SPCPWOSPC ALL WOUS40 KWNS 291438 IAZ000-NEZ000-SDZ000-292245- PUBLIC SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 0938 AM CDT THU MAY 29 2008 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED OVER PARTS OF THE CENTRAL PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OK IS FORECASTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A FEW STRONG TORNADOES OVER PARTS OF THE CENTRAL PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THE AREAS MOST LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE THIS ACTIVITY INCLUDE WESTERN IOWA EASTERN HALF OF NEBRASKA FAR SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA ELSEWHERE...ORGANIZED SEVERE STORMS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE SURROUNDING THE HIGH RISK FROM WESTERN...

PUBLIC SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 0938 AM CDT THU MAY 29 2008 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED OVER PARTS OF THE CENTRAL PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OK IS FORECASTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A FEW STRONG TORNADOES OVER PARTS OF THE CENTRAL PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THE AREAS MOST LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE THIS ACTIVITY INCLUDE WESTERN IOWA EASTERN HALF OF NEBRASKA FAR SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA ELSEWHERE...ORGANIZED SEVERE STORMS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE SURROUNDING THE HIGH RISK FROM WESTERN KANSAS TO SOUTHERN WI. VERY WARM...MOIST AND BUOYANT AIRMASS IS SPREADING NORTHWARD...

NEW YORK (NNS) -- Two leaders who embodied the spirit of USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) and the five fallen brothers the U.S. Navy warship honors were memorialized at a Fleet Week New York 2008 ceremony May 24, aboard the vessel. The gathering celebrated the lives of Capt. Stephen F. Davis Jr., a former executive officer of the ship who died of cancer at age 47, in February; and Maurice "Mo" Shaw, a Navy advocate who founded USS The Sullivans Foundation and died at age 68, in October. The U.S. Coast Guard veteran was key in bringing the vessel's commissioning...

Last updated at 4:30 p.m. Tues. May 27, 2008 Summary NWS personnel have rated the Parkersburg-New Hartford-Dunkerton tornado as a Low-end EF 5 (correlated to wind speeds up to 205 MPH) on the Enhanced Fujita Scale at the locations of maximum damage. Additional details on path length, width, etc. will be posted on this webpage Wednesday, May 28. This is the first EF5 tornado in Iowa since the Jordan tornado of June 13, 1976. A large and destructive tornado moved across Butler and Black Hawk counties on Sunday May 25th. The initial touchdown occurred near the Butler and Grundy county...