Tornado Hits Iowa Boy Scout Camp, 4 Killed, 48 Seriously Injured

Adding insult to already enough injury–Iowa was hit again on June 11 with another round of deadly storms. This tornado roared through a remote camp area hitting the Little Sioux Boy Scout camp in Western Iowa. Although a siren went off and moved many to safety, one group of scouts was hiking at 6:35 p.m. when the storm came through and didn’t have anywhere substantial to run and hide.

Names of the four boys killed have not been released at this writing, but news accounts confirm that 93 scouts between the ages of 13 and 18 as well as 25 Boy Scout staff members were at the camp when the tornado hit. Some of the 48 injured were airlifted to hospitals in nearby towns, many to a hospital in Omaha. At least 44 of the injured remain in the hospital on Thursday morning, June 12.

In addition to more evacuations along the Cedar River in Iowa, other parts of the Midwest were coping with weather issues. Another tornado also touched down in Kansas on June 11, killing two people, leveling the small town of Chapman and causing significant damage to the Kansas State University campus. It was reported that a fraternity house and a school laboratory were destroyed.

In the meantime, the National Weather Service has issued a statement saying that along the Mississippi River in Missouri and Illinois the worst flooding in 15 years has occurred. In Indiana, the flooding is the most devasting since the Great Flood of 1913 some officials say.

At this writing what is the forecast for most of the Midwest for Thursday, June 12? Rain, severe thunderstorms and more for the weekend, weather forecasters predict.

Associated Press, Comcast News contributed information to this story.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Windstorm Iowa