Rising Tide

Bill Reiter: PARKERSBURG, Iowa — The weather turned on Parkersburg first.

It was May 25, and from the north you could see a long trail of darkness cut you off from whatever was to the south. That's where an EF-5 tornado dropped from the sky.

"It's been since before Thanksgiving — horrible snows, rain, a flood earlier in the year where we had to call school off, the roads closed down," said Michael Irvin, who teaches math and coaches wrestling, football and track at Aplington-Parkersburg High School.

He took a breath.

"Then the tornado."