Iowa City Tornadoes
Several tornadoes touched down near Iowa City in the evening of April 13 between 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. CDT (0030-0230 UTC). The strongest tornado affected several parts of town, injuring at least 30 people in the city, but no one was killed (although one death was reported southeast of the city in a rural area).
Downtown Iowa City was hit the hardest, with several buildings suffering heavy damage, and the courthouse and Saint Patrick's Church - one of the local Roman Catholic parishes - both lost their roofs after the tornado hit. Several people were reportedly trapped in collapsed buildings but were rescued. The church had just finished Holy Thursday services but the parishioners were all safely in the basement of the rectory at the time. Good Friday and subsequent services continued as scheduled in the undamaged areas.
It was a Thursday night, which is normally a busy time for the bars of downtown Iowa City. Fortunately, the tornadoes struck relatively early in the evening, and downtown was not as packed as it might have been had the tornado struck a few hours later. There were a few reports of looting, mainly at establishments where liquor was sold/stored.
The Iowa National Guard was mobilized and local law enforcement was maximized to prevent crime such as looting in the area. Gas leaks were also reported in the downtown area. The University of Iowa was also hard hit by the tornadoes - the Alpha Chi Omega sorority house was nearly destroyed and had to be evacuated, and several other buildings suffered lesser damage. The school was closed the next day as a result.
Another hard hit area was the south side of town, particularly along Riverside Drive (US 6) south of downtown. The commercial area was heavily damaged, with damage reported to several shopping centers and plazas, several big box stores and numerous fast food restaurants - at least one of which, a historic 54-year old Dairy Queen restaurant was destroyed. Many cars parked in the parking lots also sustained damage. In a parking lot downtown, cars were overturned or crushed from where they had been parked. Both Menards and Wal-Mart sustained damage to their roofs as well.
Electricity was cut to about 7,000 customers in the area, but most power was quickly restored after the tornadoes, high winds and hail.
The National Weather Service stated that five tornadoes were present in Johnson county that night. The Iowa City tornado was confirmed to be a high-end F2, which was the tornado that swept through the downtown area. This was the first tornado on record to strike the University. The second tornado was removed from the record, as its damage path was not confirmed by the NWS.
Read more about this topic: Easter Week 2006 Tornado Outbreak Sequence
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