At least 4 confirmed deaths tonight and at least 40 injured when the building in which they took shelter recieved a direct hit from a tornado in Iowa. The Scouts ranged in age from 13 to 18 and were attending a leadership conference. No word yet on whether the dead are Scouts or adult counselors.

Please keep them and their families in your thoughts. My understanding is that there is so much debris from trees that first responders had trouble getting in to the injured.

how terribly tragic. all this unsettled weather is very ominous, don't you think??

I agree Debbie. It all sounds so very "The Day After" doesn't it? I have really been monitoring the weather out that way closely because DS1 and DDIL are driving through, even as we speak.

They were ahead of the flooding; they were ahead of the tornadoes. I cautioned them about eating tomatoes. But they did not escape the snow, drove through it for hours yesterday. Somehow I think 36 hours on a ferry boat is gonna seem tame after this!

Meg ... it sounds like your DS is braving the Oregon Trail here ...

The tornado at the boy scout camp is so tragic ... my heart goes out to these families ...

Yes, Pat it does. They finally arrived in Seattle late last night.

The latest conference from Iowa stated that about half of the 93 boys at the camp were injured,as were some counselors. Stories of heroism are starting to surface; of boys as young as 12 and 13, rescuing each other and some of the injured counselors, of them setting up triage and performing first aid.

When I hear stories like these, I have every confidence in our future leaders.

Good to hear that they arrived safely in Seattle ... now onto the ferry and northward they go?

I comes as no surprise that there would be boys helping boys at that camp ... they did say it was a leadership camp ... and boy scouts are trained to cope with emergencies ... my boys attended such in NH when they were training to hold leadership postions within their boy scout troop ... still devastating to read of a 13 year old who had to witness another scout "with his head split open" ::shudder:: ...

I believe the dead are all Scouts - boys between the ages of 13-15 most likely. My husband is a Scoutmaster, and my 3 sons are all Scouts. My eldest was to attend a similar leadership training camp last week in our state, but had to back out. I was relieved because the weather in our state was terrible as well. All last week I was grateful my son wasn't out camping in a tent every night.

These scout camps were built many years ago. The boys sleep in tents. They usually only have a building for a dining hall and showers. They really didn't have much of a shelter to go to.

I understand this storm hit at 6:30 - the end of the dinner hour probably. My heart just breaks for these parents. I can only imagine the anguish.

Bright

This is just too terrible to contemplate. My heart goes out to all the families.God BLess and give them comfort.
Jacqui

Found out from my brother-in-law that his son knew one of the boys. My heart goes out to all.
Trina