MANSON — A tornado that destroyed much of Parkersburg Sunday hit close to home for Wade and Lisa Niewoehner, of Manson.
The home of Wade Niewoehner’s aunt and uncle, Jenny and Dale Hansmann, was destroyed, along with Dale Hansmann’s law firm —Klinkenborg, Hansmann and Petersen — a couple blocks away.
Neither Hansmann was injured.
‘‘We got the first call around 5:30 (Sunday afternoon),’’ Lisa Niewoehner said. Wade Niewoehner’s parents, Richard and Bonnie Niewoehner, of Sumner, were visiting them when they received the call.
So on Monday morning, the two couples loaded their vehicles with coolers of water, sandwiches, gloves and a first-aid kit before making the nearly two-hour drive to Parkersburg to see how they could help.
‘‘They’re letting mostly homeowners into town,’’ said Wade Niewoehner, along with friends and relatives.
When they arrived, they weren’t prepared for what they saw.
‘‘Shock and awe,’’ said Wade Niewoehner, describing his reaction. ‘‘I was amazed at how flat it was.’’
‘‘It was just emotional to see that much loss and to know that people died in that,’’ added Lisa Niewoehner.
At first, the couple had trouble getting oriented.
‘‘It all looks the same,’’ Lisa Niewoehner said. ‘‘You don’t even know where you are.’’
Makeshift street signs on plywood erected around town soon helped people find their way.
Lisa Niewoehner said there were hundreds of cars in piles: ‘‘It looks like if you had a paper car in your hand and crumpled it.’’
The Hansmanns have lived in Parkersburg since 1977 and in their current location on the southeast side of the high school since the early 1990s.
When the couple heard the sirens, Jenny Hansmann went to their basement, but her husband stayed in the front yard. When a storm chaser drove by, Dale Hansmann asked where the tornado was. The man pointed ‘‘right there’’ — his cue to head to the basement, too.
Within a few minutes, it was over.
When the noise stopped, the couple was able to walk up the basement stairs in the middle of their ranch-style home to find it blown apart. They also found parts of the high school weight room and roof had hit their house and yard.
‘‘Everything’s gnarled and twisted. Some things they can’t even find,’’ said Lisa Niewoehner — things like furniture, entire bed sets — nowhere to be found. They salvaged some water-damaged photos, a few articles of clothing and pieces of silverware.
‘‘We were just helping them sort through stuff,’’ she said.
A few other items — antique wine bottles, some Iowa Hawkeye memorabilia, things stored in an upstairs closet — remained untouched.
Also surviving with only a few scratches was Dale Hansmann’s 1977 Corvette — a gift from his grandmother that was mainly used in parades. Now it’s the couple’s only vehicle. Three others were totaled.
Throughout the day, workers with bulldozers drove by periodically to see if anyone wanted help moving piles of debris.
The Hansmanns spent Sunday night with friends in Ackley, and were planning to stay in Cedar Falls Monday night.
Families living there were told they have five days to clear everything out, and what’s left will be bulldozed.
Lisa Niewoehner said she and her husband have spent the last four or five Thanksgivings in Parkersburg and, for now, will have to hold on to those memories.
More importantly, their family remained intact.
As the storm hit, Lisa Niewoehner said, both Hansmanns only prayed that they would live.
And their prayer was answered.
Contact Deanna Meyer at (515) 573-2141 or dmeyer@messengernews.net'>dmeyer@messengernews.net
