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T-R’s comittment to coverage

TAMA — We didn’t go to the basement immediately.

Not when the first emergency alert hit our phones at 3:22, the rhythmic tone of a panic signal moving its way through the Times-Republican.

Had we known then what we know now, we might have taken the time to walk out and admire our beautiful Main Street, appreciate the folks working day in and out to keep those doors open, take a deep breath and just be grateful.

Instead I announced on the intercom that we’d take shelter at 3:40 when the storm would actually be approaching, according to the National Weather Service. We headed down shortly before, when sirens sounded.

It wasn’t the first time I’d herded employees to the basement of the T-R but it was the first time I felt their safety was really in my hands. Everyone had balked about the safety protocol, we were all at a busy point in our work days. I waited for one of our most diligent workers who wanted to stay in her office, “I’m an Iowa girl,” she said. “I know how these warnings work.”

At that point she was right — we remained in the basement, stuck our phones and anxious. We went back to work shortly afterward. I let our employees know the storm was on track to hit at 4:40 p.m. Either take off now or plan on making a return to the basement soon.

We all went back to our computers, phones and meetings, the time quickly escaping us. Before I knew it I was mumbling profanities and announcing again that all employees must seek shelter in the basement immediately.

My colleague Randy Cutright and I scanned the first floor assuring everyone had taken cover. He went out the front doors and asked me if I wanted to see the fierce winds approaching. That’s when he spotted an adolescent boy trying to make his way down Main. He didn’t want to walk across the street to us, he wanted to make it home. We screamed and yelled for him to join us and he made it just in time to be safe in the basement among strangers.

Then we heard it and we all knew it was going to bad.

Before I let anyone else leave the basement I walked out front with Randy where the first wave of devastation hit us square in the face. Then I knew I had to get our news editor Emily Barske out of the basement and onto the streets with me. I kept drawing my hand close to my chest, seeking some sort of security from the shock of each passing step. We walked, gasped and shot photos.

What we wanted more than anything is to get news to our community as soon as possible. They needed to see what we saw, hear what we were hearing and feel what we were feeling. But family comes first. It was vital to make sure our T-R family was safe and out of danger. Nearly all of our employees live in Marshalltown, own homes here, raise their families here. Nothing was more important that knowing, despite car damage, downed limbs and absent roofs, that they were OK.

Then we did what we do best. We got boots on the ground and began collecting stories and photos. While posting to social media with spotty cell phone connections, we put a plan together to get out a newspaper. Without power, we relocated to the Tama News-Herald office, which houses our weekly papers. We mobilized our reporters and asked for help from our readers. We sought help from our colleagues in Webster City, who waited patiently to print this edition of the T-R. Our gracious friends in the newsroom at The Messenger in Fort Dodge are is sending two of their best to help us with coverage on Friday. Our former assistant copy editor, Pam Rodgers Pratt, joined us from Newton to work well into the night designing pages for us. Media friends from across the state have reached out and cheered us on. Without the generosity of our colleagues, friends and families we couldn’t have got work done, we couldn’t have printed a paper today.

In the coming days you too will have similar experiences. Perhaps you already felt the resiliency.

The feeling is there — Marshalltown, we got this. After all, we have the best people on the job in one of the most innovative and collaborative cities in the state. We will recover, we will rebuild what was lost. We at the Times-Republican look forward to telling those stories.

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Contact Abigail Pelzer at 641-753-6611 or apelzer@timesrepublican.com

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