Vinton, Walford residents begin picking up the pieces after storm, tornado

VINTON - Kayla Wilson's voice shook and she described the storm that tore the roof from her second floor apartment and dumped debris on her.

'I was buried alive,” she said.

Wilson, a resident of Vinton's Imperial Apartments, said she was in her bedroom around 5 a.m. Sunday when the storm - a suspected tornado - hit. Wilson described the sound like a bomb going off. Fiber glass showered down on her, making it impossible to see.

'It was all black,” she said.

After the storm passed, a neighbor pushed his way into Wilson's apartment and helped dig her out. She managed to suffer only a few cuts, but remains shaken by how much worse it could have been.

'I day care my three grandsons,” she said, choking up. 'Thank god they weren't here.”

National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Pierce said 'very preliminary” information indicates a suspected EF-2 tornado 100 yards wide with winds of 130 mph ripped through Vinton Sunday morning. The storm left a path of destruction, from the mangled score board and fence at the baseball field to ravaged apartment buildings. The Abbe Center for Community Mental Health also sustained considerable damage. Storms also hit a portion of Walford Sunday morning, leveling one home and seriously damaging others. National Weather Service officials said that damage also was caused by an EF-2 tornado that touched down for about six minutes, traveling about four miles with wind speeds up to 115 mph.

Residents in both communities were still cleaning up on Monday and left wondering what would come next.

In Walford, Kelly and Melissa Werner walked through their home on Erusha Drive, surveying the damage left by the storm. Insulation hung from the ceilings and boards stood in place of what used to be their bedroom walls.

'We're bundled up now, so no more damage can happen,” said Kelly Werner.

The Werners said they've been told to expect to be out of their home for at least a month until repairs can be made. For now, they are staying at a hotel near The Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids. Their 3-year-old daughter is staying with Kelly's parents for the time being.

Eric Reese, who lives on the same block as the Werners and had a large portion of his roof torn off in the storm, said he's counting on being out of his home for several months while repairs are made.

'They're either going to take the roof off or take the house down to the first floor deck and rebuild it,” he said, adding he and his wife are looking for another home to move into.

Still, Reese and the Werners - who flank a home leveled by Sunday's storm - said they just feel fortunate no one was seriously injured Sunday.

'It's just a house,” Reese said. 'It's just stuff.”

For Wilson and the 30 other families living at the Imperial Apartments in Vinton, the future is less clear. Property manager Bonnie Peacock said Monday she doesn't know when the apartments would be suitable for living again. Wilson said she paid out of pocket for a hotel room Sunday night, but can't afford to do so again.

'I'll sleep in my car if I have to,” she said. 'I've started over before, but never just with the clothes on my back.

'Devastating is what it is.”