An intense line of storms in early March stretched from Canada to Oklahoma, causing pockets of damage across the Midwest. The storms even spawned an EF2 tornado, which struck the small community of Seymour in southern Iowa’s Wayne County.

“The fast-moving storm sounded like a typical thunderstorm, but then we lost power and I started getting all these calls, texts and saw the Facebook posts,” says Caleb Housh, who has been mayor of Seymour’s 700 residents for eight years. “This quickly became an emergency situation. It looked like a bomb had gone off in our town, as I made my way just the few blocks from my house to where our command center was being established in our community center.”

The storm hit about 8:30 p.m. on March 6. The darkness and loss of power offered some initial challenges, as local emergency personnel worked to establish the damage caused by the tornado.

“An alert for assistance was sent, and emergency crews from Corydon, Humeston, Allerton, Lineville and Leon, along with Alliant Energy, were assembled and came to help Seymour emergency personnel with immediate rescue efforts that first night,” says Housh.  “Crews from Russell, Chariton and even Osceola, some 40 miles away, were on standby and ready to assist if needed.”

Devastating path of destruction
There were no deaths or serious injuries in Seymour that night, as 16 homes were damaged or destroyed. The tornado’s path struck three apartment buildings, the school and a local business.

CLEANING UP: Nearly all of the debris and immediate cleanup around Seymour was done within two days after the storm, thanks to an endless stream of volunteers from the community and surrounding areas.

Part of the community had to be evacuated when three gas leaks were discovered, where supply lines were sheared off at the ground when homes were either twisted or flattened by the tornado. “It was scary at first, because you didn’t know what you were going to find,” Housh adds. “It was the first time I witnessed firsthand damage from a tornado. Seeing the devastation with this storm, it’s hard to comprehend what sort of damage a bigger storm can cause.” 

Nearly all the debris and immediate cleanup around Seymour was done within two days after the storm, thanks to an endless stream of volunteers from the community and surrounding areas.

After getting no sleep the night of the storm, the mayor and local emergency personnel began working on a plan for cleanup, even before sunlight the next morning. “Everyone in Seymour stepped up to the challenge, and the amount of support shown to this community the days immediately following the storm was unbelievable,” says Housh.

A base area to start cleanup efforts was set up near the school, as portions of Seymour were off limits that first morning due to fallen power lines and other safety concerns.

An amazing outpouring of help
“At first my brother and a couple other guys were by the school picking up little stuff; then a guy came by with a skid steer and grapple bucket and quickly filled the first dump truck,” recalls Housh. “Before you knew it, trucks hauling skid steers, excavators and track hoes started rolling in, and I’m not even sure where they all came from.”

Housh estimates 20 skid steers and as many as 40 dump trucks were used to assist with cleanup. Not only did the needed equipment arrive, but also hundreds of volunteers, including many students from nearby communities. “The kids that came here were focused on working and helping our residents,” he notes. “I’m guessing for many of them it was the first time they had seen such damage in a community. The student volunteers were amazing.”

One job the students assisted with was helping remove personal items that could be recovered from three apartment buildings damaged in the storm. Two of the buildings were financed through USDA Rural Development, and USDA staff arrived on-site that first morning to begin working with the property owner and site manager to help place residents with families or in other USDA-financed apartments in the area.

Feeding all those volunteers
How all these volunteers were going to be fed was not a detail Housh had given much thought to early March 7. “We are in the command center around 7:30 a.m., and three guys come up to me in white shirts and ties and said they were with Hy-Vee and would take care of feeding everyone the next few days,” says Housh. “Representatives from Sonic also came that day and brought drinks and breakfast sandwiches to help feed the crews. These wonderful donations and acts of kindness helped tremendously as we kept everyone fed and the cleanup operations rolling.”

THANKFUL: As Mayor Caleb Housh made his way a few blocks from his home to the command center being set up, it looked like a bomb had gone off in the middle of Seymour. “It was scary at first because you didn’t know what you were going to find.”

More than 400 lunches were served March 7-8, many to Amish families who had come to help and to students from Corydon, Mount Ayr, Moravia, Moulton, Humeston, Bussey, Centerville, Indian Hills and Community College, as well as Putnam County in Missouri. Additional communitywide breakfast and dinner meals were provided to local residents the first few days after the storm.

On the morning of March 8, cleanup efforts started in all areas of Seymour, and by Thursday, only a handful of volunteers remained in the community doing some additional tree cutting and debris removal.

“Based on the number of calls I received from other schools, we could have had another 400 students here Friday and into the weekend as well,” says Housh. “Rural communities are awesome in coming together to support each other. I’m so grateful I was a part of such an amazing expression of volunteerism. Who would have thought one of my biggest challenges now is finding appropriate ways to properly thank everyone who helped.”

Leach is public information coordinator with USDA Rural Development in Iowa.