IF you look at the map that is at the bottom, I am located right between Norfolk and Little Sioux. It was very dark to the East here when the tornado touched down. We didn't get rain, wind, thunder, lightning or anything. It completely skipped over us.
Also these boys DID have warning that it was coming, it was a fireplace that collaspsed on them after they had already taken cover. Here is a link that i found on the story for anyone interested....if will show as a pop up player and on the left side there are different stories and you need to click on the second video. It is about 10 minutes long.
http://kcautv.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=2583808&h1=Little%20Sioux%20Tornado%20Coverage&vt1=v&am; p;at1=News&d1=76167&LaunchPageAdTag=Homepage&activePane=info&am; p;playerVersion=1&hostPageUrl=http%3A//kcautv.com/&rnd=82221424
LITTLE SIOUX, Iowa -- Four Boy Scouts -- three from Omaha -- were killed and 48 people at a wilderness camp were injured when a tornado touched down north of Little Sioux at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday.
Josh Fennen, 13; Sam Thomsen, 13; and Ben Petrzilka, 14, all of Omaha were killed, along with Aaron Eilerts, 14, of Eagle Grove, Iowa.
"Aaron was a wonderful kid," Robert Blue Middle School Principal Dawn Sievertsen.
Aaron was an eight-grader at her school.
"Fantastic -- (I can't) even begin to describe Aaron," Sievertsen said. "He was a great servant to the community. He was nominated for a state character award. He started a public service program called Pillow Cases for Patients. He made colorful warm pillowcases and sent them to area hospitals."
Fourteen were still hospitalized on Thursday morning.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families," Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said Thursday. "We are saddened by this tragedy -- this loss of life."
There were 94 registered Boy Scout campers at an elite leadership training camp for a week, along with 25 adult and junior counselors, seeking shelter in two one-room cabins when the storm hit, according to Lloyd Roitstein with the Boy Scouts of America.
"Today is a tragic day for scouting," Roitstein said on Thursday morning.
Roitstein said some scouts were out hiking Wednesday afternoon, but had weather radios and a response plan in case severe weather struck. Roitstein said the boys had already sought shelter in the camp's two main structures when the tornado touched down.
"Scouts practice being prepared every day. They had weather radios and talked about storms and discussed where to go," Roitstein said.
Roitstein described the camp as a wilderness experience and a rustic environment. He said no basements exist on the campgrounds and the two buildings where the scouts sought shelter are not built to stand up to the wind.
Roitstein said the campers had discussed emergency procedures on Tuesday and practiced first-aid techniques.
Scouts Acted As Rescuers
Many of the 13- to 17-year-old campers immediately started applying those rescue skills after the storm hit. A group of three boys broke into a storage shed, took an ATV and a chain saw, and headed to the area of the camp hardest-hit to start freeing trapped campers and administering first aid, Roitstein said.
A group of boys also went straight to ranger Nathan Dean's home on the campgrounds to rescue his family from the remains of their home, which was demolished in the storm. Dean lives at the property full time as a caretaker. Roitstein said Dean's wife was hospitalized for her injuries.
A.J. Loson, one of the scouts on the staff at the camp, told KETV NewsWatch 7 that he took shelter in the administrative building of the camp and after the tornado passed, he went to the Ranger's house on the property. The house had collapsed, and Loson said he heard a child crying and people calling for help from the rubble.
"We found out where their voices were coming from," Loson said. "It seemed like there was an entire house just piled on top of them. We just pulled off everything we can. There was a chair, a couch, we got some cinder blocks, two-by-fours, doors and all sorts of things until we finally found where they were closer together."
More than 100 volunteers from the community also went to the camp to help.
"I want to honor them for what they did," Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman said of the scouts and volunteers.
Dozens Hospitalized
In all, 42 people were taken to hospitals for their injuries.
A 15-year-old said he was in a building when it collapsed on him. He is hospitalized with a possible broken rib.
A boy released from the Blair hospital said he was sitting down to watch a movie when the storm hit. He was inside a building, and when he went toward the door, it blew open and knocked him to the ground.
Camper Ben Karschner said it was over quickly.
"Eight seconds, and the tornado passed. That was like the longest eight seconds I've ever had," he said.
Rescuers had to cut through downed trees and find a way through the storm debris to get to the injured people. Department of Transportation crews went to the area with chain saws to help clear a path for rescuers.
Mercy Medical Center, in Sioux City, said two patients arrived by helicopter at 8:13 p.m. Wednesday. A third patient went to Mercy by ambulance and later, a fourth patient arrived by helicopter. A spokesman for the hospital said the victims are all juveniles and all have serious injuries. By midnight, all four had been listed in stable condition.
A camp official said most of the injured had head injuries.
Omaha's Creighton University Medical Center said it got four patients with spine and pelvic injuries. Micheal Abell, 15, was in good condition. Mason Flora, 15, and Kevin Hannah, 13, are in stable condition.
Blair's hospital also treated four camp injury victims.
Bob Sellers, with Alegent Health of Misouri Valley, said the hospital had 11 patients. Three of them were sent to Omaha. Sellers said the 11 had been treated and released with minor injuries. He said he expected about 40 more people to be delivered to the hospital with minor injuries.
Mondamin, Iowa, officials said 27 patients are staying at the high school there. Those patients are going to be transported to a hospital in the area.
Onawa's hospital got more than a dozen campers.
Council Bluffs authorities said two ambulances were sent to transport some of the patients.
Gayle Jessen said her son was slightly injured. He heard the siren and ran to his designated area. Jessen said her son reached her by cell phone about 20 minutes after the tornado hit, and reported that he and the three others from his Fremont-based troop were OK.
Jessen told KETV Newswatch 7 that her son heard another Scout getting agitated about the storm as it hit, so her son covered that Scout with his own body, protecting him. Jessen's son was slightly injured.
Culver said it was a "very horrific" scene. Heineman said that, looking at the scene, it was amazing there wasn't more loss of life.
"The park is considered a total loss. It's completely destroyed," said Monona County Sheriff Jeffrey Pratt.
"All of the buildings are gone; most of the tents are gone; most of the trees are destroyed," Lloyd Roitstein, president of the Boy Scouts of Mid-America Council, told CNN. "You've got 1,800 acres of property that are destroyed right now."
"Based on what we were seeing on radar, it looked like it could have been a very powerful tornado," said Daniel Nietfeld with the National Weather Service.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called Culver to express his condolences on behalf of the Bush administration.
The tornado was part of a line of severe thunderstorms and heavy rain that swept across western Iowa Wednesday night.
American Red Cross surgical and mental health workers from Omaha and Sioux City were at the camp providing aid. The Salvation Army said it was sending counselors and workers to aid rescuers.
