Little Sioux Scout Ranch - June 2008 Tornado

June 2008 Tornado

At 6:35 p.m. CST on June 11, 2008 an EF3 tornado struck the camp during a Pahuk Pride National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT). There were 93 boys and 25 youth and adult staff members in attendance; four boys were killed and 48 injured. Scouts attending the weeklong Pahuk Pride event at the camp were from Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota.

The National Weather Service office in Valley, Nebraska said they issued a tornado warning 12 minutes before the twister hit the camp. People at the camp reported having five minutes between sighting the funnel cloud and touch down at the camp. According to a camp counselor, nearly all the injuries and fatalities happened when a small cabin that some campers took shelter in was destroyed by the tornado. The Scouts were split into two groups for the event and had taken shelter in two different buildings when the storm hit. The tornado was one of 28 reported in that time period, spread across eastern Kansas and into Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota. Many of the injuries were reported to have happened when a brick fireplace in one shelter where the Scouts were taking cover was destroyed by the tornado winds. A truck parked outside was thrown through the air and may have struck the building.

The tornado killed Josh Fennen, 13; Sam Thomsen, 13; Ben Petrzilka, 14, all from Omaha and Aaron Eilerts, 14, from Eagle Grove, Iowa. The Scouts' first aid training was immediately used. MSNBC asked Ethan Hession, 13, "You said, 'If it had to happen it is good it happened at a Boy Scout Camp.' Why would you at the age of 13 say such a thing?" Hession replied, "Because we were prepared. We knew that shock could happen. We knew that we need to place tourniquets on wounds that were bleeding too much. We knew we need to apply pressure and gauze. We had first-aid kits, we had everything."

The Boy Scouts at the camp, including some of the injured, immediately began to administer first aid and assist their injured fellow campers. The chief of the local volunteer department, Ed Osius, said, “It’s the scouts that saved a lot of lives." According to the local Omaha World-Herald, the wounded were taken to several locations.

• Four were brought to the Saint Joseph Hospital at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, all in stable and good condition;
• Four were brought to Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa, and were in stable condition;
• Nineteen were taken to Burgess Medical Center in Onawa, Iowa;
• Fourteen were taken to Community Memorial Hospital in Missouri Valley, Iowa. Three of those were transferred to Creighton, and;
• Eight were brought to Memorial Community Hospital and Health System in Blair, Nebraska, one in critical condition. Parents expressed frustration and anxiety about communication problems that kept them from knowing the status of their children.

Surviving Boy Scouts were taken to West Harrison High School in nearby Mondamin, Iowa to wait for their parents to pick them up. Some boys reportedly waited up to five hours. The Omaha Police Department helicopter conducted an infrared scan of the camp early in the morning on June 12, despite the fact that as of 12:00 midnight CST all people have been accounted for. A police lieutenant suggested it may just be as a precaution. As many as 42 Scouts remained hospitalized the following morning with wounds ranging from cuts and bruises to major head trauma.