T-R PHOTOS BY LANA BRADSTREAM A piece of an aircraft kit sits on the ground outside of a severely damaged hangar at Marshalltown Aviation. The kit had not yet been assembled.

Depending on a person’s outlook, Marshall County was either lucky or unlucky when the Wednesday morning storm rolled through.

Marshall County Emergency Management Director Kim Elder said the storm damaged a narrow swath.

“This was a small storm, at least from what I have seen, and was fairly isolated,” she said. “Some places were majorly damaged, but the farm down the road was untouched. It took a very narrow path, which is normal for a straight line storm. There were areas with 40 to 70 mile-per-hour winds, but not as much damage.”

One location that got hit hard was the Marshalltown Airport north of town and the surrounding farms, where 94 mile-per-hour winds were recorded. According to Elder, the National Weather Service did not have any indication a tornado touched down near the airport. Rather, it got hit with strong, straight winds.

She said it is too early to get the monetary amount of damage at the airport.

“Every building was hit, except maybe the main building,” Elder said. “Some buildings had minor damage and some had major (damage). I am sure the monetary amount will become evident within the next day or so.”

Roughly 90 minutes after the storm passed, Marshalltown Aviation President and Co-owner Steven Valbracht said they were still assessing the damage at the airport.

“This is our fifth major wind event in the 16 years I’ve been here, and it’s one of the worst ones I’ve seen,” he said.

Valbracht added that some aircraft were damaged as well. The nose and wing in the grass outside of the airport did not belong to a working aircraft. He said those were part of a kit which was not assembled.

“That’s the good news,” Valbracht said. “So far, we haven’t seen an airplane completely destroyed. We’ve seen minor damage to some aircraft, but major damage to the buildings. It could have been a whole lot worse.”

It was too early for him to guess as to the financial impact of the storm. Brick walls were pulled apart, hangars were missing large pieces and some hangar doors were blown off. There are 40 hangars at Marshalltown Aviation, and at the time he could not say if all were damaged.

“It’s going to be a while before we have a real grasp around the dollar damage,” Valbracht said. “We’re going building by building to figure out what we have for damage.”

Fortunately, the $3.7 million renovated terminal did not receive any damage to the building itself, he said. The main hangar door and a small garage door did sustain damage, but Valbracht said the building appeared to be okay.

“We’re going to do a full survey through the next day,” he said.

Even though there is damage at the airport, Valbracht said the runway is still operational. People can still come and go, but added they do not have access to the jet fuel truck.

“Right now it’s just a matter of getting access to the aircraft trapped in the hangars,” he said. “We’ll be securing the facility first and making sure everything is safe. After we do that, we will start getting access to support equipment and aircraft.”

Paint a picture

Being in contact with the National Weather Service, Elder said her department was directed to start assessing damage around St. Anthony and Liscomb, where minor damage, such as broken trees, was found.

“Otherwise, the main damage was found around the Albion (and) airport area,” Elder said. “Some ag buildings were damaged and some of the power grid was destroyed – lines down and poles broken. On Garwin Road, there were between 14 and 16 [transmission] poles down.”

Alliant Spokesperson Andrew Stoddard said there were 2,300 customers in Marshalltown and the surrounding area without power following the storm. By 3:30 on Wednesday afternoon, that number had dwindled to roughly 70.

“Our crews are working as quickly and safely as possible,” he said. “We are making good progress.”

Stoddard estimated that about six customers impacted by the downed transmission poles will get power back this afternoon. Regarding the remaining 64, he said it all depends on the assessed damage, so it was difficult to give a timeframe as to when electricity would return to those customers.

Within Marshalltown, Elder said most of the damage was done to older trees, some breaking completely or some with limbs broken off. There was no concentrated damage inside the standard city limits.

She did not have a complete rain report, but she heard of some areas of Marshall County receiving 2.5 inches. Since Story County reported areas of more than four inches, Elder is expecting some parts of Marshall will have gotten more than two inches.

During her time with Emergency Management, storms are nothing new for Elder. She led the response through the 2018 tornado, the 2020 derecho and more.

“I have lost count of the storms,” Elder said. “In my first four years with Emergency Management, we had a lot more severe storms. Lately, the severe storms have worked their way around us, but this is why we always train and prepare.”

Whether or not the damage across the county will qualify for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance is not yet known, but Elder does not think the amount is at the level of getting federal help.

“There are new FEMA guidelines, and we will report the damage,” she said. “We will push the information to the state so they know what we are seeing. From there, they will assess how much damage Marshall County had, and if it meets the criteria, it will go to the federal level.”

It is important for Marshall County residents to get storm damage information to Elder within 48 hours. She can then send it to the state.

“We need to paint a picture of what we are seeing the severity of the damage,” she said. “We rely on people to tell us. After a disaster, we need to know as much as possible. They can call us at 641-754-6385, call 911 if there is a gas leak or someone’s life is in danger or go to our website at marshallema.org. There are various ways to get the information to us, and it’s super important. We’re not trying to get into your home, I promise. We need to get the picture painted for the state and federal [agencies].”

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