Iowa Wing Responds To Iowa City Tornadoes

The Iowa Wing combined a ground and air response that included taking aerial damage assessment photographs, ferrying two top state officials and assisting the American Red Cross.

Launching at sunrise a day after tornadoes struck in Iowa City in Johnson County and surrounding areas, an Iowa Wing air crew flew above Iowa City and took hundreds of photographs of damage. The CAP aircrew sent the photos to the state Emergency Operations Center through a radio link in the aircraft.

As air crew members landed, they also uploaded photos for other officers preparing a presentation at a state Emergency Operations Center briefing, said Major Doug Jansen, Iowa Wing Director of Public Affairs.

“The CAP Photo Interpretation presentation was the highlight of the meeting. All of the state’s agency liaisons saw the devastation in detail with explanations of just what had happened,” Jansen said.

Meanwhile, Capt. Kim Kirschman, an Iowa Wing pilot, flew Lt. Gov. Sally Pederson and David L. Miller, administrator of the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division, on a flight to Iowa City to see the devestation firsthand.

As CAP air crews combed the skies above Iowa, ground teams of the East Iowa Cadet Squadron based in Cedar Rapids and the Fort Zumwalt Falcon Cadet Squadron of Missouri staffed shelters when the American Red Cross sought assistance.

The Missouri cadets ran a shelter for tornado evacuees and were based at the University of Iowa. The group worked an entire overnight shift at the school.
- posted by IAWG PAO @ 10:31 AM