story and photos by Suz Anne Wipperling
s ur vivor s
Tornado
Remembered
re, and ouse befo h n w to s nter’ Pat Carpe na area. the Wade it h o d a torn
On Thursday, June 17, 2010, storms were predicted. As the day progressed the meteorologists began seeing a continuously violent development. Warnings were sent for the projected area, which included Wadena. Pat Carpenter, who lived in a townhome on the southwest side of town, was watching TV just before 5 p.m. The sirens went off and she climbed into the bathtub and pulled a heavy quilt over herself. Soon the sirens stopped and she left the bathroom to watch TV again. Minutes later the second siren sounded and Pat once again jumped into the bathtub, but before she had a chance to pull the quilt over her the storm hit. Jane Erckenbrack, soon to retire as the Social Service supervisor, and responsible for 14
after the
Jane Erc kenbrack , her hus daughter, band Mikayla s urvived th , Glen and grandby taking e cover in the basem Wadena tornado ent.
congregate housing in case of a disaster, was at work at the Wadena Social Services Building on the southeast side of town. As the second siren went off she made the joke, “Sure, I suppose I’m going to have to deal with a disaster, too, before I retire.” As Pat lay in her bathtub, curled in a fetal position, bits of tar pelted her and the roof rose up twice, but settled down again. The noise was horrible, “Like the worst hail storm ever.” She heard a lot of glass breaking. It felt like it went on for five minutes, and then everything became very quiet. The electricity was off. Jane got in her car and headed to the southwest side of Wadena where she lived about a block from Pat Carpenter. As she got closer to home she began to see more and
more storm damage. Trees were uprooted and debris was becoming increasingly common. At the end of her street she found she could not turn in, and so she left her car to walk the last block. The house on the corner’s roof was missing. Pat climbed out of her bathtub, to find a home assaulted. Bits of insulation and glass were everywhere. Gray dust piled up. She couldn’t open the front door, which was askew, but a young man pulled it open against the debris. Outside she could hear a loudspeaker from some emergency vehicle saying to go to the high school, which was the local staging area. So Pat took several people and drove there, only to find it heavily damaged. They returned home and Pat went down to her friend Myrtle Vierkant’s
SUMMER 2011 | her voice
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4/14/11 9:56 AM