116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Marion orchard loses more than 800 trees in derecho

Aug. 13, 2020 9:28 pm, Updated: Aug. 14, 2020 12:57 am
MARION - Many Marion homeowners lost trees Monday, but at Allen's Orchard, losing trees means losing business.
The orchard, at 5801 N. 10th St., lost a sizable portion of its 3,200 trees, owner Chris Gensicke said Thursday.
'We stopped counting at 800,” he said.
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On Thursday, Gensicke partnered with Trees Forever in bringing a half-dozen teenagers to the orchard to save as many trees as possible.
'We've been out here working, doing what we can. We've saved about 400 so far,” Gensicke said.
The students, from Kennedy and Xavier high schools, went row by row, straightening trees that showed some hope and tying them up to keep them standing. The students are art of a division of the Boy Scouts called Venture Crew 2000.
'When we first got started here at the orchard, the Venture Crew planted a lot of these trees back then and 10 years later, the next generation is here saving them,” Gensicke said.
Zack Pisney, a Xavier sophomore, said Thursday's work was meaningful.
'It makes me put other things in perspective,” Pisney said. 'You see all this damage. This business was affected greatly.”
Gensicke said it's heartbreaking to see the damage to the orchard.
'That's 10 years of hard work and summers gone, overnight,” he said. 'It's not easy.”
The unfortunate thing about fruit trees is they take four to five years to reach full production, he said.
To replant will cost tens of thousands of dollars, he said.
'My prayer is people continue to come out and support us,” he said.
Gensicke said the orchard has three generators, running a cooler to keep apples fresh.
All the apples on damaged trees have to be stripped off so the trees put less energy into the apples and more energy into surviving.
He said orchard staffers will be making pies, doughnuts and other baked goods from the fruit in the near future.
'A lot of families were looking to do good COVID activities, and this was one of them,” he said. 'We're going to do our best to bring fresh fruit and baked goods to people.”
Dave Blankenship, Trees Forever Chairman said he hasn't even worked on his own home yet.
'That's a mess,” he said. 'But that stuff isn't going to go anywhere. This is a chance to come out here and show kids how to do something.”
Other damage
Most of Marino remained without electrical power Thursday night. Some sections temporarily regained power during the day, only to lose it again.
Kendal Krahl, 47, said he has been cleaning up the multiple fallen trees on his property since Monday.
'It's astonishing,” he said as he sat on a giant log in his front yard in southeast Marion. 'It's just so widespread, it's crazy. We went up to Manchester this week just to get some gas. It's unreal.”
Like Krahl's front yard, almost every street in town is lined with masses of fallen trees. Nearby, at the Grand View Apartments on Grand Avenue, one of the buildings is missing a large chunk of its roof, exposing the top-level apartments.
In Uptown Marion, City Square Park was still covered in fallen trees on Thursday, including some that fell on the historic train depot. Wit's End Coffeehouse across from the park is missing its roof.
Across town, multiple side streets are still blocked by fallen trees and downed wires and utility poles.
The Marion Village had a few tipped-over mobile homes; a couple of houses around town were crushed by trees. Many homes have tarps on their roofs, with fences blown over.
First-time homeowner Aaron House, 25, had a tree fall on his garage and over his house, which he has lived for a couple years.
'The garage was a total loss,” he said. 'I had a couple of decent punctures in my roof.”
Figuring out what to do next is hard.
'I've been trying to figure out the right steps to take and who to get ahold of,” he said. 'Once you know how to get ahold of someone, you still can't, due to no power or phone service. I'm on a couple of lists now for getting a tree service out here, but I don't know when.”
Marilyn Sippy, 84, said she had been hauling a lot of branches from her property this week.
'I had some help from a gentleman with a chain saw, but I must admit I did the whole section at the end of my driveway by hand,” Sippy said.
Sippy's home still had a backyard tree leaning against it and her backyard is covered by a jungle of branches.
Comments: (319) 398-8255; gage.miskimen@thegazette.com
From left: Carson Lang, 15, Zack Pisney, 15, and Isaac White, 14, with the Boy Scouts of America's Venture Crew 2000 right a fallen apple tree at Allen's Orchard in Marion, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. Members of Venture Crew 2000 stacked up over 400 apple trees in an effort to save some of them for future seasons. Chris Gensicke, owner of Allen's Orchards, said that he lost about 800 trees of the 3,200 trees at the orchard during Monday's storm. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
From left: Carson Lang, 15, Aaron Loecke, 14, Zack Pisney, 15, and Isaac White, 14, with the Boy Scouts of America's Venture Crew 2000 right a fallen apple tree before tying it to a stake at Allen's Orchard in Marion, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. Members of Venture Crew 2000 stacked up over 400 apple trees in an effort to save some of them for future seasons. Chris Gensicke, owner of Allen's Orchards, said that he lost about 800 trees of the 3,200 trees at the orchard during Monday's storm. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Apples are seen on a tree before members with the Boy Scouts of America's Venture Crew 2000 right a fallen apple tree at Allen's Orchard in Marion, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. Members of Venture Crew 2000 stacked up over 400 apple trees in an effort to save some of them for future seasons. Chris Gensicke, owner of Allen's Orchards, said that he lost about 800 trees of the 3,200 trees at the orchard during Monday's storm. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds tours the storm damage at Marion Square Park with Marion Mayor Nick AbouAssaly in Marion, Iowa, on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020. Reynolds and Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg saw the damage from Monday's inland hurricane as they visited communities across the state. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Carson Lang (left), 15, ties off an apple tree to a stake as Zack Pisney (second from left), 15, Isaac White (second from right), 14, and Aaron Loecke, 14, with the Boy Scouts of America's Venture Crew 2000 steady the tree at Allen's Orchard in Marion, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. Members of Venture Crew 2000 stacked up over 400 apple trees in an effort to save some of them for future seasons. Chris Gensicke, owner of Allen's Orchards, said that he lost about 800 trees of the 3,200 trees at the orchard during Monday's storm. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Carson Lang, 15, and other members of the Boy Scouts of America's Venture Crew 2000 right a fallen apple tree before tying it to a stake at Allen's Orchard in Marion, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. Members of Venture Crew 2000 stacked up over 400 apple trees in an effort to save some of them for future seasons. Chris Gensicke, owner of Allen's Orchards, said that he lost about 800 trees of the 3,200 trees at the orchard during Monday's storm. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
A tree lies on a house along 11th St. as debris is piled near the road in Marion, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Letters spelling Marion are missing from the side of Marion High School in Marion, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Damage to a second floor unit at the Grand View Apartments in Marion, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Damage to a second floor units at the Grand View Apartments in Marion, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
A message written on a driveway in Marion, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Friends and neighbors watch as a crane is used to lift a tree that fell on the house of Jim and Julie Ottaway in Marion, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. The couple moved into the house in 1999. Julie said the tree was already there when they moved in. The house was built in 1954. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Marion city crews cleanup debris from downed trees at the corner of 12th Avenue and Northview Drive in Marion, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Workers with The Shade Tree Service Company clear a tree from around a downed power line along 19th St. in Marion, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. The Fenton, Missouri,-based company is a contractor for Alliant Energy. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)