“Like our house was on the tracks of a ferocious freight train,” said Alstott, recalling the moment his Greenfield community was hit by a deadly and powerful EF4 tornado last Tuesday. “The extremely violent noises of debris flying and hitting everything in sight; the shaking and vibrations of our house.

“It was something out of the movie, ‘Twister.'”

The 2011 Fort Dodge Senior High School graduate has an entirely new perspective on everything from storm warnings to life in general after surviving the most vicious tornado to impact the United States in over a year. On one hand, Alstott knows he is incredibly fortunate just to survive such a horrific storm, which changed Greenfield forever.

The Fort Dodge native also has moments, though, when he wonders why this devastating twister — which killed at least four people and injured 35 others — took direct aim on the town of 2,000 located just under an hour southwest of Des Moines.

-Submitted photo
A devastating EF4 tornado killed four and injured 35 in Greenfield last Tuesday.

“No matter how prepared you think you are or try to be, nothing has you ready for a catastrophic event like this,” Alstott said. “I definitely have mixed feelings. I’m happy to still have a home that just has repairable damage. But it’s so hard to feel fortunate that my own house is still standing when my immediate neighbor is rifling through what’s left of their belongings and trying to find anything they can to keep.

“I’m very thankful, but at the same time, so devastated for what others are now going through. I pray for the families who lost their loved ones. It’s such a tragic thing to see.”

Alstott moved to Greenfield with his girlfriend, Algona native Maddie Meyer, last November. The couple works in Des Moines, but commutes to and from Greenfield.

“We were building the life we envisioned as first-time home owners, and found ways to get involved in this small-town community,” Alstott said. “I joined the high school baseball team as an assistant coach, and we look forward to continuing to make our footprint here and eventually raise a family.

“We both come from ‘smallish’ towns in Fort Dodge and Algona. We wanted that tight-knit, small-town community that’s hard to find in the bigger cities. We visited Greenfield, fell in love with our home, and made the move.”

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The red spot is where the home of Alex Alstott and Maddie Meyer is located. The direct path of the devastating Greenfield tornado missed their house by mere blocks.

The morning of May 21 started with ominous forecasts and storm watches posted for the entire area around Greenfield. Alstott left work early and got back home around 3 p.m.

“Maddie and I were both worried about our two dogs being alone, so I knew I had to get back as soon as possible,” Alstott said. “The storms around Des Moines were getting more and more extreme by the hour, and it just felt like the start to a bad day.”

Alstott noticed something felt different about the approaching storm as he pulled back into town.

“It was eerie — the skies looked weird and had an odd color to them,” Alstott said. “By the time I sat down on the couch, I got an emergency alert on my phone to seek shelter. I immediately turned on the news, and it said we have five minutes before the tornado arrives in Greenfield.

“I rushed down to the basement with the dogs and got under the stairs for cover. I had a blanket over us and I was laying on them. I didn’t know how severe the threat actually was. … I was just hoping we would be safe.”

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Many homes in the Greenfield community were either severely damaged or completely destroyed in last Tuesday's EF4 tornado.

The next few minutes took a turn for the surreal.

“Unlike anything I have ever experienced,” Alstott said. “I could see out of the small basement window we have, and everything was flying so fast I had no idea what was what. It’s hard to describe or comprehend.

“Once everything started to calm down, I left the dogs in the basement under the stairs, not knowing if it was safe or what my main level would look like. I knew it was bad, but not to the extent of how bad it actually was.”

The house Alstott and Meyer had purchased just six months earlier was thankfully spared. There was damage, of course, but nothing compared to what neighbors surrounding them had sadly experienced.

“I uploaded a video to my Facebook page … that was my first look and genuine fearful reaction to the carnage that just happened, stepping out from the basement to my backyard,” Alstott said. “I’ve never been to war, but the best way I can describe it was that it looked like a war zone. It looked like we just got hit by a bomb.

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Houses, trees and vehicles were wiped away by the EF4 tornado that struck Greenfield last Tuesday.

“Debris, wood, metal, glass, leveled homes. Everything was broken or in shambles.”

Alstott found random items that the twister had sucked up from elsewhere and randomly tossed onto his property. The tornado had reached speeds of 185 miles per hour and ripped a half-mile wide path right through the heart of Greenfield.

“It was all just so surreal in that moment, seeing the wreckage and sheer power of Mother Nature,” Alstott said.

The damage in his immediate sightline was bad enough, but a short walk told the real story of the monster that had visited Greenfield.

“Once I was able to collect myself, I saw how severe some of the houses had been hit just a block or so away,” Alstott said. “Completely flattened with remains, and some having their foundations exposed with no house there at all anymore.

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Many homes suffered either significant damage or were completely destroyed by the EF4 tornado last Tuesday in Greenfield. This is in the neighborhood of Fort Dodge native Alex Alstott's home.

“As I was seeing all of this, all I could think of was the people stuck in their basements and what I needed to do to help search and pull people out.”

Alstott was leery of walking the streets, given the downed power and broken gas lines. But he still felt the urge to throw caution to the wind and help.

“It felt unsafe to proceed, but also necessary,” Alstott said. “Seeing the first reactions to people coming out, crying and screaming, having their family members in flattened houses not knowing where they were or if they were even alive.”

“It was terrifying. Truly terrifying. Something I’ll never, ever forget in my life.”

Alstott had never been afraid to play amateur storm chaser before last Tuesday.

“I’ve had some what I thought were ‘close calls’ with tornadoes in the past,” Alstott said. “I felt the rush of adrenaline and excitement that I naively saw as fun and cool to witness.

“Now, my mind has completely shifted. This was a life-changing, mind-altering moment. It’s still hard to process.”

Dealing with the aftermath has been a physical and emotional struggle.

“We’re still working day in and day out to pick up the pieces that we can,” Alstott said. “But there was so much destruction … We’re at the mercy of big machinery to help tear down and move people’s entire homes and get rid of the big things.

“This community is small, but so mighty. I couldn’t be more proud to live here, seeing how in a time of such major loss and sadness, we have come together to help our neighbors. This will be something that will take months, or even years, to finish. There’s so much to be done. And we won’t look at this town the same as we did before.”

Alstott and Meyer noticed the sense of community pride in Greenfield from day one. If there is a silver lining to this storm, it’s the enhanced belief that the town is truly in this together — and for each other.

“We have an older married couple, in their 80s, who are our neighbors to the north,” Alstott said. “They came over and started picking up our yard with us. Once they were done, they moved on to the next.

“This town has some of the toughest people I’ve met — so many of them, from all across Greenfield. I’m just so proud of this community for stepping up and immediately helping one another in the direct face of adversity.”

They haven’t been alone.

“There has been an abundance of support from every small town around here, and even actually as far away as Fort Dodge,” Alstott said. “We’ve seen people from all over Iowa, and even other states, lending a hand in their own way. Tractors, skid loaders, dumpsters, food trucks, blood drives … just about everything you can think of, helping this community however possible.”

And so, the recovery process — physical and emotional — in Greenfield begins.

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Alex Alstott is a Fort Dodge native and 2011 Fort Dodge Senior High graduate. Maddie Meyer is from Algona. The couple have lived in Greenfield since last November.