Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, October 25, 1979

The county was hit by strong winds. Jack MAIN, who lives about 8 1/4 miles northwest of Mount Ayr, was caught in the cab of his tractor about 6:45 p.m. on Sunday, October 21, when a strong wind whizzed by his farmstead. Meanwhile his wife and two children were in the house located nearby, when Mrs. MAIN sent the children to the basement for safety. Mrs. MAIN said the wind seemed to skip around flattening corn growing in the fields, rising and then touching down in another area further on. A big maple tree in the yard,its trunk about four feet in diameter, was split. One-half of it was whirled toward Mrs. MAIN as she stood in the door. Branches landed about six feet from where she was standing. Debris of all kind, including a scoop shovel and buckets, went flying by she said.

The MAIN'S neighbor, Elton and Marjorie WERNER, were outside choring when the wind gusted by. They thought it was a tornado because they said it had a "tail." Mrs. WERNER said she couldn't make it to the house but took refuge in a pickup, which bounced around and tipped from side to side. Her husband was inside the cab of his tractor. When debris stopped going by, WERNER found himself by a steel machine shed with a missing front.

At the Larry ENGLAND farm north of Clearfield, a double hit occurred. Thursday night a machine shed, nearly completed, was partially destroyed and the Sunday storm finished it off.

Lloyd WEEDA, who lives at the southeast edge of Tingley, had a steel bin destroyed and a door was blown off his barn. When a large tree was uprooted, it fell across the power lines causing outages.

The Francis SMITH farm, just south of the Tingley turnoff on Highway 169 lost a barn and some fence.

Rideta Electric Cooperative manager Eldon MAIN said they had five poles blown down and trees had fallen onto their lines, causing interruption of service for, the most, two hours in the Sunday storm.

October [date omitted], a son to Mr. and Mrs. Daniel BOOHER, Albany MO

OBITUARIES in October 25, 1979, 1983 Mount Ayr Record-News:

Allen Andrew AIKIN    D. C. SIMPSON

Transciption by Sharon R. Becker, October of 2012

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Please include the word "Ringgold" in the subject line. Thank you.

 

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