T-R FILE PHOTO A photo that ran on the front page of the Aug. 11, 2020 Times-Republican shows a tree that landed on a truck during the derecho the day before. The massive straight line wind storm caused huge amounts of damage across Marshalltown and Marshall County before moving east to Tama County and eventually hitting the Cedar Rapids area.

Five years have passed since the devastating derecho tore through Marshalltown and Marshall County on Aug. 10, 2020. Winds stronger than 100 mph damaged homes, flipped cars and trucks, broke trees and downed electrical poles and power lines.

Immediately following the storm, transportation on the streets of Marshalltown was difficult. Drives that normally take 10 minutes or less were stretched to 30 minutes or more due to numerous roads being impassable.

Marshalltown Fire Department Chief Christopher Cross was on duty when the storm hit, and quickly saw that creating access to areas in town was going to be the top priority.

“Entire portions of town were cut off from everything because of power lines and trees. It felt like a different animal than the tornado,” he said. “The damage was widespread, and made it operationally complicated.”

First the fire department personnel had to see to the damage caused to their new building shared with the Marshalltown Police Department. The winds blew in the garage doors on the west side, and blew out the doors on the east side. A sprinkler pipe was also hit, so the building also had free-flowing water. Cross said firefighters had to first clear all of the structural damage away just to access their equipment.

“We had to get ourselves squared away before we could take care of anyone else,” he said.

After they were able to move beyond the fire department building, it was a matter of tackling the problems head-on.

“We developed a game plan, and started handling the problems as they arose,” Cross said.

First, access to the areas of town which were cut off had to be created because people were trapped. Thankfully, he said there were no fires, but there were plenty of gas leaks.

“We had to form cutting teams to get into places,” he said. “Access was a big problem. It took a while to get to some places. Some, we had to wait for large equipment just to get to places. We couldn’t just cannonball into the pool. We took care to put ourselves in neighborhoods so a tree or a powerline would not fall on a truck.”

Fortunately, the new police and fire building had a storm shelter, which served as the emergency operations center, Cross said.

“We were able to mitigate and respond,” he said. “It was nice to operate out of that hardened structure. Generators gave it reliable power because the grid was decimated. We were able to maintain situational awareness.”

One neighborhood that stood out in Cross’ memory was Highland Acres on the west side of town. Major transmission lines were down, and he said they had to access the neighborhood through nearby fields.

Even though damage was certainly present on the west side of Marshalltown and the county, Marshall County Emergency Management Director Kim Elder said the derecho grew in strength as it moved to the east.

“The damage to the western side of the county was not as intense,” she said. “Wooded areas and conservation areas were a huge mess because of the mature trees. Conservation had their hands full.”

T-R FILE PHOTO
Gov. Kim Reynolds, right, met with former Iowa Veterans Home Commandant Timon Oujiri, left, on the IVH campus to assess derecho damage on Aug. 12, 2020.

Preparedness

For both Cross and Elder, they keep their eyes on the weather and are doing their best to be prepared for another natural disaster. According to Cross, he has “post traumatic weather disorder.”

“Whenever there is a forecast for storms or high winds, I think about that day every time,” he said. “I have vivid memories of the derecho and tornado. We keep oriented to what is going on with the weather, and understand what is coming at us and plan ahead.”

Going through the derecho has reaped some benefits. Cross said the fire department is now more aware of the weather, and they are even constantly watching the river levels.

“We’ve had a lot of rain lately,” he said. “In the winter, we keep an eye on blizzards. Preparedness is our job.”

For Elder, whenever there is word of a tornado or strong winds, the concern arises that another derecho is looming. She stressed that a weather event is not labeled as a derecho until after it has passed and the facts of the weather behavior can be gathered. To be considered a derecho, there need to be sustained winds of at least 58 mph, traveling a path of at least 240 miles.

“We need to take winds very seriously,” Elder said. “There is always the concern, but it’s important for us to practice what we preach. Don’t be scared. Be prepared. Try not to be worrisome.”

The first thing people should do is take cover in a shelter, a basement or the lowest level of a building. Elder said a person should try to get to an interior room, one that does not have an exterior wall. She added a person should get to the shelter as soon as possible because a storm can escalate to a derecho quickly. Having an emergency kit with water, food, flashlights, first aid supplies and means of communication is important.

If someone is outside, they should try to find a sturdy building quickly and stay away from trees. It is also recommended that outdoor items be secured before the derecho hits.

After the derecho passed, she said people were very anxious and wanted to know what they could do to prepare. In response, Elder has placed more focus on education.

“That is the biggest part of preparedness,” she said. “We want to prepare each individual, because we can’t help each person. We each need to be aware of our surroundings.”

The Marshalltown Fire Department and Marshall County Emergency Management agencies are both better prepared for the next disaster. However, Elder said they can always be better.

“Partnerships and communication are huge,” she said, adding that a lot of effort has been put into improving those with communities and neighboring counties. “We’ve done a lot of training, planning and exercises. We can reach out to surrounding counties for help. We are prepared, but we can always do better, there is room for improvement, but I think we are sitting well.”

Before the derecho, Cross had never experienced a natural disaster in such close proximity.

“I don’t want to have to do that again,” he said. “But we learned a lot. Each time a catastrophe happens, it is an opportunity to test yourselves and your processes. You get better at it. We always find a way to win and be better, stronger, faster, zero in on being as close to perfect.”

A lot of conversations were held in the derecho aftermath about how to respond to such incidents, Cross said.

“Whenever you encounter something big like this, you have to take a breath and assess the situation before you start diving into the problems,” he said.

One aspect of the community stood out to the fire chief even more in the aftermath – people helping fellow Marshalltonians.

“People’s property and houses were damaged, but they felt the compulsion to help,” he said. “Struggle makes us strong and it made the community stronger,” Cross said. “Marshalltown is resilient, and I am proud of everybody who suffered through it and came out on the other side.”

T-R FILE PHOTO
Jack Edwards, an employee of Top Notch Tree Service, pushes a large branch through a wood chipper at Riverside Cemetery on Aug. 13, 2020. The historic cemetery suffered incredible damage from the derecho three days prior.

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Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.