Iowa Begins Recovery After Tornadoes
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | June 2, 2008
The Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area spans 37 counties in Iowa.
Credit: Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area/NPS
Tornadoes in northeastern Iowa last Sunday killed six people, injured about 100 others, and destroyed 222 houses and a historic cemetery. The 200-mile-an-hour twisters devastated four counties within the massive Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area.
Last week Gov. Chet Culver issued a disaster proclamation for four counties and urged President Bush to declare a state of emergency and release federal funds for the recovery effort.
"Our heart goes out to all of the families and communities in Northeast Iowa affected by this spring's severe weather," says Don Short, president of the heritage area. "From flooding to tornadoes, the heritage area has been hit hard. As the true impact of the devastation is determined, we plan to do all that we can to help."
Because bulldozers will begin clearing operations this week, the Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance is reaching out to Iowans who don't know whether to demolish or rehabilitate damaged homes and businesses.
"These are self-sufficient, fix-it-themselves-type people," says Rod Scott, alliance board member. "We've got to get ahead of this game and not wait eight weeks because the farmers will just tear down the barns. … We need to inform people that there's another [option] than demolition."
The alliance is working with the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Midwest Office, the state historic preservation office, and the heritage area to distribute information to property owners and recruit volunteers to survey affected areas.
"We're facing the same thing the Gulf Coast did: a complete lack of architectural surveys in the damaged areas," Scott says. "We've got to survey this stuff. In our opinion, being in the National Heritage Area, every farm is significant."
Iowa has no state register of historic places, and none of the communities has a local register. However, the state does offer a generous grant program that Scott hopes to publicize.
The alliance plans to map the the tornadoes' path and boundaries. Then it will work with the USDA and insurance companies to contact the owners of damaged properties, many of which are well preserved.
"The buildings in these little towns are totally locked in time," Scott says. "It's classic Americana, turn-of the-century, early 1900s architecture in these communities."
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Comments
Submitted by Paul W at: June 5, 2008
Tornadoes also destroyed a covered bridge in Moscow, Indiana the other day as well as several other historic buildings just a few weeks before their annual covered bridge festival