News : Garrison residents and volunteers rally to recover from storms

Dozens of high school students helped the Hansons clean up debris at their farm.

One of many damaged farm buildings on the Garrison blacktop.

Many trees fell at the Behrens farm, damaging the garage.

Pieces from a chimney smashed a car parked nearby in downtown Garrison.

Many trees and a few tombstones were damaged in Garrison cemetery.

This house lots its roof.

One of many damaged buildings in Garrison.

The Garrison Emergency Services Building was one of the casuaties of Monday's major storm.

Unprotected hay bales form a pile in a damaged barn.

The tattered firefighter's flag still flies over the Garrison Emergency Services Building.

A leaning flag at the Meyer farm east of Garrison.

A flag is displayed on a damaged house near Garrison.

The Garrison library was one of the biggest losses of the storm.

The old school building sustained major roof damage.

The water tower escaped damage; a barn below it in Garrison did not.

The Old Creamery Nature Trail was damaged and blocked by falling trees.

In rural Iowa, natural disasters like Monday's devastating wind storm bring out the best in many people. Faith. Determination. The willingness to help strangers. Thankfulness. A triumphant spirit that overcomes adversity.

Garrison residents, like those in the other Benton County areas affected by the historic wind damage, displayed those characteristics as they shared their views with Vinton Today on Thursday.

We headed south from Vinton, on Highway 218, and turned right on County Road E22. We stopped along the way to take photos of damaged trees, houses and farm buildings, and we talked to many who were most affected by the wind.

"We can replace all of this stuff," said John Buhr, who lost a brand new two-stall garage, several grain bins and other buildings, but escaped without injury with his wife. "What matters most is that we all are OK."

A few miles east of Vinton, at the Gardner home, the roof and siding were substantially damaged, but the Gardner family and the saxophone survived. Nic Gardner, who will be a junior at Vinton-Shellsburg High School, was an Outstanding Soloist at the 2011 Iowa High School Jazz Championships.

"We made sure that the sax and our dog were safe in the basement," says Nick's mom.

At the four-way stop just south of Garrison is a manufactured house that lost its roof and most exterior walls in the storm. Yet the occupants found their flag which blew off its pole outside and attached it to the one remaining exterior wall.

Inside Garrison, the library is mostly gone. The roof rests on the grass across the street from the building, and the interior doors upstairs are plainly visible.

The Garrison Emergency Services Building was mostly destroyed, too. Only 15 years old and renovated and expanded in 2009, the building collapsed onto the fire trucks Monday morning. Insurance adjustors and emergency personnel were at the site today, evaluating damage.

Many other houses and buildings in Garrison, along with hundreds of trees, were also damaged. Part of a brick chimney landed on the trunk of a car parked nearby.

A few miles east of town, the Dave Behrens family dealt with storm damage for the second time in the past few years. Two years ago, a wind storm destroyed half of their house. This time, the house was spared but many of the largest trees were destroyed. One of those trees fell inside the couple's garage. The irony the couple discovered was that if the storm had damaged the house, the loss would have again been covered by insurance. The trees, however, were not covered.

A few miles further east lies what is left of the Hanson farm, which lost three machine sheds and four grain bins. John and Shirale Hanson had lots of help cleaning up the area, says Shirale. On Wednesday, approximately 45 high school students, including softball and volleyball players from Vinton-Shellsburg, a dance team from Cedar Rapids Prairie and some students from Center Point-Urbana, helped retrieve metal from the structures which had blown into the farm's soybean fields.

Garrison residents had lots of help. A Christian group from Florida, a Methodist team from North Liberty and the Salvation Army were just a few of the volunteers that could be seen there on Thursday.

For a slide show with more than 200 photos of Garrison storm damage click HERE.

Garrison is also in need of help to rebuild the station for more infomation click here to see how you can help!