Students Share Stories of the Derecho
October 6, 2020
Many people across the state of Iowa and neighboring states were hit by a brutal derecho, which collapsed buildings and sent trees flying multiple yards in the air. Many people’s houses in Mount Vernon got decimated by the storm and even a month after the chaos, there are still people with destroyed roofs or barns that have been ripped off their foundations.
“I woke up minutes after the storm started and all I could hear was the wind,” said senior Sage Boettcher who lives in Bertam. “When the storm died down we checked our grandparent’s house which was a few blocks down, and saw a tree on their roof putting two decently sized holes into it.”
Junior Jacob Russell had his country farm ravaged by the storm with a collapsed barn and grain silo, as well as damaged machine sheds and hog houses, or sophomore Kelan Mahoney whose property had a totaled shed and a living room wall punctured with a tree branch.
“We don’t know if our family will end up rebuilding any of our outskirt farm, cause it isn’t connected to our main farm,” said Russell. “I guess we’ll deal with the problem if needed.”
Many students also helped volunteer to clean up the town like junior Natalie Spinsby and Sophomore Dylan Winkler who helped clear out debris by houses on their streets as well as other friends and family members.
Volunteering was only one of the ways people kept busy during the time without power. Junior Mark Liberko decided to take up reading as a hobby to pass the time without power, reading books like A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin.
“I found myself going to sleep at around 7 or 8 p.m. which is at least 2-3 hours earlier than when I usually go to bed,” Liberko said. “It was some of the best sleep of my life.”
