Numerous tornadoes tore through the western part of the Corn Belt Power system the evening of Saturday, April 9, 2011, ripping apart buildings and snarling trees, tin and power lines into mangled messes. Remarkably, there was no loss of life and few serious injuries were reported.
The National Weather Service confirmed a total of 10 tornadoes in five counties. One tornado was classified as an EF-3 with winds up to 165 mph.
The Early and Odebolt areas in Sac County suffered losses from a pair of tornadoes, one an EF3. The town of Mapleton in Monona County was hit especially hard, with 60 percent of the town destroyed or damaged. At least two tornadoes tore through the countryside in Pocahontas County. There, homes were leveled and farm machinery destroyed. Damage totals were not immediately known, but officials said it would easily be in the millions. Gov. Terry Branstad declared both Monona and Pocahontas counties disaster areas.
Corn Belt Power Cooperative experienced transmission and substation damage in Sac, Buena Vista and Pocahontas counties due to the storm. According to Dan Watnem, transmission superintendent, Corn Belt Power lost nearly 50 transmission poles, sustaining more than 1 million dollars in damages. Poles were downed in the Miles Nelsen tap east of highway 71, a section of transmission line east of the Storm Lake Substation, the Dover dual circuit west of Pocahontas, the Dover to Feldman and Pocahontas to Dover lines, and in a five-mile stretch northeast of Odebolt and south of Schaller where a tornado ripped some transmission poles from the line and carried them more than 200 feet.
After the storm hit, all substations with the exception of the Dover Substation were quickly re-energized by rerouting power. The Dover Substation was back on line by 4:05 p.m. Sunday, April 10.
Two of Corn Belt Power's distribution co-op members also experienced storm damage. In the Raccoon Valley Electric Cooperative system near Odebolt, Early and Schaller, approximately 500 members were out of power immediately after the storm. As of Monday morning April 11, only 40 members were still out of power. Their service was restored by the end of the day Monday. Jim Bagley, chief executive officer, reported that crews from seven neighboring cooperatives assisted Raccoon Valley crews with storm repair.
Terry Bruns, president and chief executive officer, Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative, reported that approximately 2,500 of his co-op's members in Pocahontas, Buena Vista and Cherokee counties lost power due to the storm. By late Sunday, after Iowa Lakes crews worked 18 hours making repairs, all Iowa Lakes members who could receive power were back on line.
The stories of storm survival were remarkable. Keith Mentzer, former director of Raccoon Valley Electric Cooperative, lives northeast of Odebolt and had his rural home hit by two tornadoes. Neither Mentzer nor his wife were injured, but their home and all outbuildings were deemed a total loss by the insurance company.
Raccoon Valley CEO Jim Bagley tells the story of powerline contractors who were working for his co-op. (Jim speaking) None of the contractors was seriously hurt. One worker was taken to the hospital for a minor injury.
Corn Belt Power crews removed tangled conductor and broken poles, installed new poles and restrung conductor in the damaged transmission line in Pocahontas County, completing the work there by the Wednesday following the Saturday storm.
Crews then moved on to the Odebolt area, where the highest dollar damage occurred with close to five miles of transmission line requiring a complete rebuild. Weather pending, crews expected the project would take a few weeks.
Tornado footage courtesy of SevereStudios.com and Scott Peake/TornadoVideos.net.
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Pocahontas Tornado touchdown WHOHDby rrileycom507 views
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...I was in the basement when it happened.
LordNova2 2 months ago