Boy Scout Camp Leveled By Tornado, 4 Killed

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A tornado hit a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa Wednesday evening, killing at least four people and injuring more than 40 others, KCCI-TV in Des Moines reported.

A search and rescue team has been deployed to the Little Sioux Boy Scout camp, located in western Iowa on the Harrison-Monona county line, north of Council Bluffs.

Courtney Greene, a spokeswoman for Gov. Chet Culver, said the tornado hit the Little Sioux scout camp at about 7 p.m.

A Boy Scout official says the twister destroyed all the buildings and tents and most of the trees. Rescuers dug through piles of debris to reach trapped victims, some of them sheltering under tables.

Speaking from the state Emergency Operations Center, which is mobilized because of flooding across Iowa, Greene said authorities were initially warned of injuries and hospitals in the Little Sioux area were told to be on standby for tornado victims.

Mercy Medical Center, about 50 miles away in Sioux City, said it had received several injured people from the camp.

Iowa Homeland Security spokeswoman Julie Tack said the rescue teams were dispatched because victims could still be trapped beneath the debris and downed trees. Iowa Department of Transportation crews were also sent to the area with chainsaws. The crews worked to clear a path for rescuers as the tornado downed many trees in the area.

Tack said she's confident emergency officials will be able to deal with the crisis since the region has been largely spared from flooding that has swamped the Midwest.


There were 93 campers and 25 staff members at the camp. The scouts were between 13 and 18 years old and were attending a leadership training camp. A chairman of the Mid-America Boy Scout Council's Goldenrod District says he believed the boys were from eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

A rescue official says everybody at the camp has been accounted for.

KETV-TV in Omaha reports that a scout master said the campers had plenty of warning that the tornado was coming, but said they were essentially trapped in the camp with no adequate shelter. He said many of the camp buildings were flattened.

KETV reported that many of those injured had head injuries.

Also in the Midwest, tornados have also touched down in southern Minnesota and eastern Nebraska.