Tornado takes out Rudd's church, library, homes
An EF-1 tornado ripped through the small northern Iowa town of Rudd on Wednesday night.
The twister was on the ground for one minute, tearing right through the heart of town.
The Rudd library is in pieces and an old church that served as the Rudd historical museum is reduced to rubble.
"I got lucky, really lucky," Darlene Field said.
Field lives two doors down from the old church that was destroyed. Her next-door neighbor's garage roof caved in and several windows were shattered.
Luckily, Field is not dealing with that kind of damage, but her house was hit by flying debris.
"All I heard was something hitting my house," Field said.
Flying debris damaged her siding and windows.
Field says when she walked outside after the storm passed she was heartbroken at what she saw, but the cleanup effort started right away.
"I am just in awe," Fields said. "I can't believe it got cleaned up this fast."
Rudd Mayor, Jeffery Buland says several counties joined in to help their cleanup effort.
"I am humbled by the support we received," Buland said.
Help came from more than just the Rudd Fire Department and Emergency Management teams from surrounding counties. Just about Every Rudd resident was out cleaning up the pieces on Wednesday night.
"This is what small-town America is all about," Buland said.
Moments after the storm blew through, Jerry Miller took his equipment into town and began to help.
"I was pushing the church out over here. Trying to open up that street going to the well to make sure we had water," Miller said.
Homes and buildings in a town of just over 500 people were badly damaged, but their spirit and pride in helping others are fully intact.
"There's still good in the world and in small communities," Field said.
Despite some buildings and homes being destroyed, Rudd had no storm-related injuries or deaths.
