Joe sent me this picture today. He took it after he left Vermeer, the manufacturing plant in Pella where he spends the majority of his days as they are an account of his for work. He was actually home when he sent the picture to me and I got it as he was walking in the door. We had no idea until his sister called to see if he was okay that a tornado had actually hit Vermeer. We were watching the weather here as there were storm warnings out for our area. She had seen that Vermeer had been hit on the news.
I do belive God was watching over everyone at Vermeer when this hit. There were seven people injured and sent to the hospital and they were all released by evening. There were a handful of people treated on site and released. There were no fatalities. It was Customer Appreciation Day which means there were over 400 extra people, dealers and customers, from all over the world visiting and over 2,000 employees on site when the tornado hit and yet no one was severly injured. I’ve seen reports of people being thankful for Vermeer for preparing them all for a situation like this with drills that were practiced and designated places to go during a tornado. And stories just like Joe’s of people who just felt they needed to leave and go home before the tornado hit.
There are I think seven plants across the Vermeer Mile. These are just a handful of the multiple pictures flying around Facebook showing some of the damage. We are so very thankful – Joe worked for Vermeer at one time and as I said, he spends the majority of his time there for his work now and he has many dear friends who work there. I’m not always a fan of Facebook but today it was wonderful to be able to get on and see that our friends were okay. Some were there when it hit and others had already gone home.
Tornados also went through the towns of Marshalltown and Bondurant in our area of the state and left extensive damage. Our nice and nephew and their kids live in Bondurant and they were also lucky – houses were destroyed less than two blocks away from their house. Seth could see the tail of the tornado from his house. The damage a tornado can do is beyond comprehension. Vermeer is shut down until further notice. At least one of the seven plants was totally destoryed. Others suffered extensive damage. But the fact that all that were there walked away from this is a miracle. I know I said an extra prayer before I went to bed last night thanking God for keeping Joe, our extended family and everyone at Vermeer safe.
Thanking God with you, Rhonda!