rescue firegeezer on 11 Jun 2008 11:13 pm
Iowa Tornado Hits Boy Scout Camp
UPDATE: Thursday AM. See the more recent Firegeezer updated report HERE.
A TORNADO IN IOWA STRUCK A BOY SCOUT CAMP KILLING AT LEAST 4 around 7:00 pm Central time tonight. Approx. 40 people who were injured were taken to local hospitals.
The first reports are just coming in with this from the Associated Press:
A spokeswoman for Iowa Homeland Security says at least four people were killed and 40 injured when a tornado struck a western Iowa Boy Scout camp.
Iowa Homeland Security spokeswoman Julie Tack says a search and rescue team has been deployed to the camp near Little Sioux in Harrison County. She says the camp is covered with debris and downed trees after the tornado hit about 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Tack says there were 93 campers and 25 staff members at the camp. The campers were between 13 and 18 years old and were attending a leadership training camp.
Homeland security officials were coordinating with local authorities and said that it was an ongoing search and rescue mission and that it was possible some might be trapped under debris at the camp. They took cover when the severe weather started to come through, but almost all of the buildings in camp were destroyed.
The 1,800 acre Little Sioux Scout Ranch normally has boys from both western Iowa and eastern Nebraska attending. It is located about 40 miles north of Omaha.
Note: These are early reports. It is likely that numbers of casualties and damage reports will change overnight.
KETV Omaha Ch. 7 has some early raw video HERE. But it is mostly taken outside at the staging area.
