Tornado kills four at Iowa boy scout camp
By Kay Henderson
DES MOINES, Iowa, June 11 (Reuters) - Four were killed and at least 20 injured when a tornado tore through an Iowa boy scout camp where dozens of children were gathered for a summer retreat, officials said.
The twister was one of more than two dozen that roared through four U.S. Midwestern states on Wednesday. It hit the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in western Iowa about 6:35 p.m. CDT.
Parents of campers were gathered Wednesday night in a nearby church awaiting news even as search and rescue teams continued to sift through debris at the camp.
There were about 100 boys between the ages of 13 and 18 attending the camp, local media reported, quoting Arli Hasbrouck, a spokesperson for the Boy Scouts of America's Mid-American Council in Omaha. Hasbrouck confirmed at least four scouts killed, according to local media.
The scouts were attending the annual Pohuk Pride weeklong junior leader training event at the 1,800-acre ranch, which has four cabin shelters, a 15-acre lake, a rifle range and six hiking trails.
The tornado was one of 28 reported late Wednesday moving across eastern Kansas into Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota, according to Storm Prediction Center meteorologist David Imy.
The tornadoes were accompanied by baseball-sized hail and vicious winds, and came on top of rampant flooding that has forced hundreds from their homes in Iowa alone.
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver on Wednesday declared 54 of Iowa's 99 counties disaster areas due to damage from the flooding and tornadoes. (Additional reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City)
