Marshalltown

[HawkGold]

Why would anyone go out on the water that looked liked something shaped like a shoe box?

There trucks fashioned after ww2 Dukws. Very sade under normal conditions. That ine was taking on watervand low. Im sure the shut the windows to keep water out from waves and wind.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Glad to hear that there were no serious injuries. Scary stuff.

When I lived in Iowa, I experienced 3 or 4 tornadoes. The closest call was one that occurred in Dubuque around '74 or '75 when I was a little kid. We were living in the trailer park (go figure...) on the west edge of town (There was a drive-in theater right next to it. The Super 20 or something like that). Three mobile homes were destroyed. I remember some dork panicked and ran out of his trailer and jumped into a ditch, leaving his wife and kids in the trailer, LOL. The next morning there was a cow in the adjacent field that was walking around with a 2x4 sticking out of it's side.

I was also near a tornado that hit Ryan a few years later.

The Ryan tornado was a bitch. As bad as Parkersburg 2008 or Barneveld Wisconsin 1984 (sirens in Madison infamously caused a Quiet Riot concert at the old Dane County Coliseum to be delayed)

The Dubuque tornado you are referring to was September 9, 1970, the week of my birthday. It damaged the trailer park you mentioned, the Drive In you mentioned, Hempstead High School and Kennedy Mall. A seventeen year old boy trying to clear tree branches off the roof of the Gulf gas station onDodge Street stepped on a concealed live power line and was electrocuted. Power was out for seventy two hours and I feared the sirens the rest of my childhood.

More recently, the UW Platteville campus was hit in June 2014 on the opening night of Jeff Gard's basketball camp. I had a child attendeng. Coach Gard and his staff of players deserve much credit for calmly taking emergency measures. One camper was pretty spooked when the window shattered in his fifth floor room in Rountree Commons and a bicycle flew in.

 

[Northside Hawk]

There trucks fashioned after ww2 Dukws. Very sade under normal conditions. That ine was taking on watervand low. Im sure the shut the windows to keep water out from waves and wind.

The "ducks" are a very famous attraction at Wisconsin Dells, where they still operate as amphibious vehicles with two trips across water per tour.

 

[EstronHawkKing]

Aren't "Duck Boats" what brought our Boy's onto the France beaches on D-Day back in WW2?

 

[Northside Hawk]

Aren't "Duck Boats" what brought our Boy's onto the France beaches on D-Day back in WW2?

Believe so and HawkGold was the first soldier off the boats and onto the Normandy beach to lead the charge.

On a serious note. My grandfather, Cletus Meyer, was on that beach and survived. My mother would have been thirteen months old.

 

[M1911A1Hawkeye]

Aren't "Duck Boats" what brought our Boy's onto the France beaches on D-Day back in WW2?

The Higgins boat served as the main landing craft for the amphibious assault on D-Day. However, the DUKW aka "DUCK" was used on D-Day and saw service in both the European and Pacific Theaters of the war.

 

[PCHawk]

The weren't used. The driver discouraged it until it was too late.

You're saying the driver told people to not put life jackets on? Where did you hear that? I don't believe that for a second. I'm assuming life jackets didn't help because people couldn't get out and went down with the boat.

 

[#1DieHardHawk]

The Ryan tornado was a bitch. As bad as Parkersburg 2008 or Barneveld Wisconsin 1984 (sirens in Madison infamously caused a Quiet Riot concert at the old Dane County Coliseum to be delayed)

The Dubuque tornado you are referring to was September 9, 1970, the week of my birthday. It damaged the trailer park you mentioned, the Drive In you mentioned, Hempstead High School and Kennedy Mall. A seventeen year old boy trying to clear tree branches off the roof of the Gulf gas station onDodge Street stepped on a concealed live power line and was electrocuted. Power was out for seventy two hours and I feared the sirens the rest of my childhood.

More recently, the UW Platteville campus was hit in June 2014 on the opening night of Jeff Gard's basketball camp. I had a child attendeng. Coach Gard and his staff of players deserve much credit for calmly taking emergency measures. One camper was pretty spooked when the window shattered in his fifth floor room in Rountree Commons and a bicycle flew in.

I wonder if there was more than one tornado in the area, since we weren't living in that park until, I believe, '73.

The Ryan tornado did some freaky things. There was a church that was literally gutted right up the middle (which was completely gone) but the front and backs of the church were unfazed and even small statues and candlesticks on the altar were still standing.

 

[Northside Hawk]

I wonder if there was more than one tornado in the area, since we weren't living in that park until, I believe, '73.

The Ryan tornado did some freaky things. There was a church that was literally gutted right up the middle (which was completely gone) but the front and backs of the church were unfazed and even small statues and candlesticks on the altar were still standing.

Very possible. There were bad ones nearby in 1972 and 1974 but the September 1972 was determined later to be straight line wind damage. I know the sirens went off enough times in my youth. And northeast Iowa doesn't even get as many tornadoes as the Des Moines area and to the South and West of there towards the big tornado alleys in Kansas and Oklahoma.

My sister lives in Omaha. The College world series gets interrupted by tornado warnings more years than not. There is a very famous photo around Omaha of a 1970's tornado taken from the old Ak-Sar-Ben horse track towards the 72nd street area which was hit hard.

 

[DMLadyhawk]

You're saying the driver told people to not put life jackets on? Where did you hear that? I don't believe that for a second. I'm assuming life jackets didn't help because people couldn't get out and went down with the boat.

You're saying the driver told people to not put life jackets on? Where did you hear that? I don't believe that for a second. I'm assuming life jackets didn't help because people couldn't get out and went down with the boat.

There is a story on WHO quoting the adult survivor of the family who lost 9 people saying the driver of the duck boat told them they would not need lifejackets
https://whotv.com/2018/07/20/9-members-of-one-indiana-family-among-17-killed-in-duck-boat-accident/

 

[#1DieHardHawk]

Very possible. There were bad ones nearby in 1972 and 1974 but the September 1972 was determined later to be straight line wind damage. I know the sirens went off enough times in my youth. And northeast Iowa doesn't even get as many tornadoes as the Des Moines area and to the South and West of there towards the big tornado alleys in Kansas and Oklahoma.

My sister lives in Omaha. The College world series gets interrupted by tornado warnings more years than not. There is a very famous photo around Omaha of a 1970's tornado taken from the old Ak-Sar-Ben horse track towards the 72nd street area which was hit hard.

Found it. It was an F2, September 28, 1972. There may have been a straight wind storm that month as well (Derecho?), but this was definitely a tornado.

http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/19720928.19.23

 

[#1DieHardHawk]

There is a story on WHO quoting the adult survivor of the family who lost 9 people saying the driver of the duck boat told them they would not need lifejackets
https://whotv.com/2018/07/20/9-members-of-one-indiana-family-among-17-killed-in-duck-boat-accident/

If that's true, there are about a million lawyers falling over each other right now to retain some new clients.

 

[PCHawk]

There is a story on WHO quoting the adult survivor of the family who lost 9 people saying the driver of the duck boat told them they would not need lifejackets
https://whotv.com/2018/07/20/9-members-of-one-indiana-family-among-17-killed-in-duck-boat-accident/

Ok then. Turns out I underestimate people's stupidity. What the hell was that guy thinking?

 

[Fryowa]

Believe so and HawkGold was the first soldier off the boats and onto the Normandy beach to lead the charge.

On a serious note. My grandfather, Cletus Meyer, was on that beach and survived. My mother would have been thirteen months old.

@HuckFinn would have been but he was too old by the time WW2 started

 

[MoseSchrute]

I saw on the news they said the boats had life jackets, but know word yet if they were used. I wonder if the Captains of the boats survived? If so, they are in serious trouble

I read that the Captain lived but the driver died. Weird, because you would think that would be the same guy on such a craft.

 

[PCHawk]

I wonder if they were told they won't need jackets before they got on the water, or if they were told that during the bad weather. I'm actually on table rock all week right by where it went down. It's a weird feeling.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Found it. It was an F2, September 28, 1972. There may have been a straight wind storm that month as well (Derecho?), but this was definitely a tornado.

http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/19720928.19.23

We are absolutely talking about the same storm. September 28, 1972. It was one of the first times I remember a weather bulletin interrupting TV programming. Legendary WMT meteorologist Conrad Johnson, with that deep baritone of his, cut into the equally legendary Max Hahn and his "Dr. Max" after school children's show. Before we knew it the sirens were going off all over Dubuque and you could hear tree branches snapping.

The trailer park you mentioned and the Supre 20 Drive Inn movie theater were severely damaged, for the second time in two years. The original Super 20, located near the present day Shopko store, was destroyed in 1970 and moved to a new location only to get hit again.

The tornado path accompanying your post was very long and wide for an Eastern Iowa tornado. It damaged or destroyed a lot of agricultural interests. Trees were down all over Dubuque, but there was no tornadic activity in the city proper and the path of the storm shown in your post verifies this. However, it was a very near miss, it did hit the outlying south and west parts of the metro area where you would have lived, and what difference does the nature of the winds make when they approach 100 miles an hour. Tornadic or not they will create a lot of damage.

 

[HawkGold]

I wonder if they were told they won't need jackets before they got on the water, or if they were told that during the bad weather. I'm actually on table rock all week right by where it went down. It's a weird feeling.

She didnt say except it was on the water.

She lost her kids and husband.

 

[Northside Hawk]

I read that the Captain lived but the driver died. Weird, because you would think that would be the same guy on such a craft.

So the captain survived and over half his passengers perished. His world can't be rockin' too well right now.

He probably hasn't completely recovered from the shock nor has it completely sunk in what happened.

 

[Ozhawk]

Well, at least the Iowa State football team in Marshatllown helping with the cleanup. Campbell is even running the chainsaw and doing heavy work.