On June 18, 1974 I lived in Ankeny, Iowa. That night the town was hit with an F4 tornado. I was at a friend's apartment that was ground level and no basement. Thank God it was just west of the path of the tornado, but I'll never forget what I saw going on out the window. It was a heavy fearce wind whipping downpour and vehicles in the parking lot were starting to be blown into motion and trash dumpster were flying about smashing into the vehicles. Then I noticed the window I was looking out began to bulge in and out, so we all hunkered in an area away from all windows in a kitchen. The apartment I was in survived after the storm as to my 64' Malibu. I headed to my parents house after it was all over and saw total destruction the route home, as I wove around downed trees, powerlines and debris all over. When I came to some railroad tracks, I saw some parked boxcar had been blown over on their side. leaving only the wheel trucks still on tracks. Thank God my folks lived on the opposite side of the tornadoes path that I was on. They were both in bed and slept through it all. I worked for a homebuilder at the time and the following days I drove many hours in a 73' Chevy C60 dump truck that was loaded up with debris by loaders of destroyed buildings going back and forth to a site to dump all the destruction. The national gard was also loading my truck up with equipment they brought in. I was back in Ankeny a couple years ago and drove out to where all that debris was hauled to and its now acres of commercial and industrial buildings. All that memory of this gigantic pile of a town destroyed is completely out of sight and out of mind to most who live in Ankeny, Iowa today. I myself remember that experience very well.
