Tornado hits Scout camp; 4 dead

A spokeswoman said some victims could be trapped under debris.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A tornado struck a western Iowa Boy Scout camp Wednesday, killing at least four people and injuring 40, an Iowa Homeland Security spokeswoman said.

A search and rescue team has been deployed to the camp near Little Sioux, Homeland Security spokeswoman Julie Tack said. She said the camp was covered with debris and downed trees after the tornado hit about 7 p.m.

Some victims might be trapped under debris, Tack said.

There were 93 campers and 25 staff members at the camp, Tack said. The campers were between 13 and 18 years old and were attending a leadership training camp.

At least 40 people who were injured in the storm were being taken to area hospitals.

David Hunt, chairman of the Mid-America Boy Scout Council’s Goldenrod District, which covers several eastern Nebraska counties, said he believed the boys were from eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

The 1,800 acre ranch is about 40 miles north of Omaha, Neb. Its amenities include hiking trails through narrow valleys and over steep hills, a 15-acre lake and a rifle range.

The tornado touched down as Iowa’s eastern half grappled with flooding in several of its major cities. The storm threatened to stretch Iowa’s emergency response teams even further.

Tack said officials were confident that the state’s emergency response teams could handle the crisis because western Iowa had been largely unaffected by the recent flooding.

Meanwhile, in Cedar Falls, Iowa, residents were ordered to evacuate low-lying sections of towns along the overflowing Cedar River on Wednesday, and communities along the Mississippi River were warned that new rainfall would boost their expected flood crests.

Officials in Wisconsin, where this month’s rainfall is approaching a record, planned to drain water from one reservoir to ease pressure on a dam, and were monitoring dams elsewhere in the state. High water in Indiana burst a levee Wednesday and flooded a vast stretch of farmland.

In Minnesota and North Dakota, strong winds closed a highway and even sent a cow into the air.