Dangerous weather hits Ringgold County
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By Jeff Snyder
MOUNT AYR, Iowa- More violent weather roared through Mount Ayr starting Monday afternoon and continued late into the evening following a weekend of dangerous weather.
A reported three and a half inches of rain fell Monday on the already saturated ground causing flash flooding throughout the area. Water backed up and accumulated near Clearview Nursing Home fully submerging a car at that location. A bridge was apparently under water five miles south of Tingley. Also Highway 169 was closed at 190 Street due to a mud slide that crossed the road.
During this storm event numerous tornadoes were reported by the National Weather Services and emergency management along with field storm spotters throughout the area that relayed information to Ringgold County officials. Reports of ping pong ball sized hail were also reported around the county. There was no official damage estimates available as of this report.
One visible show of damage was the “Mount Ayr” welcome sign just west of the city limits. Although the brick stanchions survived the storm, the center section of the sign was blown out.
Over the weekend area fire and rescue answered five calls on Saturday May 16, in a span of just six hours. Of the five, four were fires, largely caused by violent weather that ripped through the area late Saturday.
As much as five inches of rain fell during these storms, further complicating the department’s intervention operations. At the same time the National Weather Service had issued a variety of tornado watches. The most serious of the calls came in just north of Mount Ayr at the Henderson farm where their historic classic red barn was struck by lightning and subsequently destroyed.
“By the time we got there the barn was almost on the ground.” Mount Ayr Fire Chief Ed Rotert said. “There wasn’t much we could do. We were worried that embers from the fire which were being blown by the high winds could have reached another barn on the property. We put foam on it and we left a truck behind for another hour to make sure the fire didn’t flair back up.”
Another fire involved a tree that had apparently been struck by lightning and caused the tree to ignite. Yet another call involved a downed power line that were arcing onto nearby tree branches risking yet another fire that could have easily spread in the gusty conditions.
All in all county firefighters spent most of the day battling mother nature and its devastating effects. Fire departments in Ringgold County, like most rural departments, are completely voluntary. These men and women drop whatever it is they are doing and answer the call wading into danger when most are fleeing. They are well-trained and dedicated to their civic call.
“I’m a dispatcher from the sheriffs office, watching and listening to how all the men and women of our county worked so hard to provide safety here was incredible,” Ringgold County Sheriff’s Department dispatcher Jacey Thomas said. “All of them put their lives at risk chasing the storm and then had their minds challenged when we had the fires and other emergencies happened.”
Effective utilization of community resources clearly requires a well refined communication network which starts with the sheriff’s department. Most initial calls from area residents start with a 911 call that triggers the complex but efficient chain of notifications that activate the department volunteers. Most importantly to note, that with all these emergency calls there were no reported injuries to department members of to community members receiving aid. No doubt the swift actions of the communities volunteers had something to do with this outcome.
The very nature of volunteer work is often taken for granted, but I would be remiss if it wasn’t pointed out that this community hold the fire department and all first responders in the highest esteem.
