Neil Westervelt had just stepped from the main M & W Manufacturing building — one of four in the complex — to beckon an employee in a smaller building to come to where he’d be safer when a brief but violent storm with winds estimated as high as 80 miles per hour struck Iola shortly before 9 a.m. today.
“I got caught between buildings when barrels started blowing all over the place,” said Westervelt, M & W owner. “I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get into the building. Butch Thompson who was with me didn’t. He got around on the (east) side of the building and out of the wind as best he could.”
M & W and Michael Truck Repair had the most property damage from the storm here. The Michael building collapsed, with part of its roof landing in an open area 100 feet to the northwest. Two people in the building escaped injury.
“We didn’t have anyone hurt,” Westervelt said. “The roof came off the block building on the south,” a warehouse and where air compressors are situated.
M & W makes industrial metal products, including those for the oil industry. Its ReadyBreak Division produces accessories for the recreational vehicle industry.
Several of the blocks that tumbled from the south building, which Westervelt said he had been told was Iola’s oldest, punctured the rounded metal roof of a building housing manufacturing equipment just to the north.
Westervelt said it didn’t appear any of the machines took direct hits, but “we won’t know for sure about how much damage we had until later, after the insurance people get here” and he and employees have opportunity to make a more thorough survey.
Nearby, just west of Willow and Kansas streets, a power pole was snapped by the wind and its lines were snagged by the headache rack on a pickup truck driven by Jonathan Ruppert.
He called for assistance and stayed inside the vehicle until city crews removed the power lines.
“He did the right thing,” said Tim Thyer, deputy fire chief, who was among those who responded after Ruppert reported his dilemma.
KEVIN SMITH, an employee at Michael Truck Repair was working beneath a trailer inside the building when the storm hit.
He saw the wall begin to buckle, “and before you know it, the entire building was down,” he said. “I didn’t have time to be scared.”
Owner Rick Michael was nearby and rushed to ensure Smith, and another employee inside, were unharmed. Both were safe and sound.
“Nothing really came close to hitting me,” he said. “Everything happened so quickly. I didn’t even know the storm was coming.”
ELSEWHERE the wind tore limbs from trees, toppled a few small trees and ripped power lines from their moorings. Other utility poles were broken or left at peculiar angles. One at Kentucky Street and North Dakota Road was left at a 45-degree angle protruding over Kentucky, which led traffic to be diverted.
Several large limbs fell across and blocked streets and many littered lawns. A large limb just missed crashing into the front portion of John and Georgia Masterson’s home, 423 S. Sycamore. In typical Iola fashion, neighbors Curly Percy, armed with a chainsaw, and Odell Pulley came to help Masterson remove the debris.
Power was out in east Iola and other places, mostly from service lines being downed.
City employees had the day off for Good Friday observance, but many were called to duty and responded in short order. A large front-end loader and trucks were being used to clear streets less than 45 minutes after the storm struck and electrical crews anticipated being busy for several hours.
Damage extensive from storm
