Mediapolis community begins tornado cleanup ahead of upcoming severe weather threat, Tuesday

MEDIAPOLIS, Iowa (KWQC) - Last Friday’s storms devastated many across eastern Iowa and western Illinois with the National Weather Service estimating a total of 20 to 30 tornadoes in the area, and the citizens of Mediapolis are no exception.

Mediapolis residents are among those cleaning up storm ruins and debris after an EF2 tornado touched down in the town of Mediapolis, last Friday, and according to the National Weather Service, another severe weather system is expected to arrive, Tuesday.

“I just kept saying ‘we need to leave, we need to leave,’ so we finally got into my truck over here and as I was leaving I got about a block away from my house and that’s when this little tornado came through,” said Jereme Heater.

Heater said he was at home before the tornado touched down, when he got this ‘gut-feeling’ to get out. After getting his six-year-old son in his truck Heater said he was relieved that he did because the tornado came for his house, shattering his son’s bedroom window and throwing some of the roofing off of his house.

After the storm subsided, Heater said he gathered all the nearby debris in his yard to be collected.

The tornado ripped roofs off nearby houses, broke windows and tore trees out of the ground, Heater recounted.

However, despite the extensive damage in the southeast of the town, the community has rallied together to begin the clean up process, Heater said.

Another resident recounted their cleanup experience, saying, “I saw six or seven bobcats coming down the road removing debris right away, and they had a JLG lift a tree off of the neighbor’s house over here within an hour or two hours after it hit,” Mediapolis resident Rick Whitaker said.

Moving forward, residents like Whitaker, say just how scared they are of the second set of storms expected to come Tuesday and their unpredictability.