Williamson twister: Sharon Walter and eight children survive violent storm

A violent tornado tossed her 30,000-pound New Holland combine through the air 1/8 of a mile Sunday.

It pummeled four concrete silos leaving rubble everywhere on Sharon Walter’s farmstead in Williamson, located in Adams County about 16 miles northwest of Creston. Two machine sheds, numerous vehicles/machinery and a large shop on the property were also flattened by the twister around 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Walter spoke to the New Advertiser this morning while waiting for an insurance adjuster to arrive.

“We’re just thankful everyone’s alive today,” Walter said.

Walter, 74, had eight children — ages 12 to 22 — on the property when the tornado approached around 6:15 p.m. Sunday evening. Some of the boys were in the garage cleaning a piece of machinery while others were sitting around talking when Sharon got a visual of the tornado from her front porch.

“The tornado was about a mile away and was white as snow. It seemed two semis wide. I couldn’t see the tail because of the cornfield, but it was twirling the debris up pretty good,” Walters said.

Walter, her pets, the grandchildren and their friends ran inside to the basement and crammed together into a crawl space beneath the staircase. Walter said the wreckage only lasted a couple minutes, but it’s a sound she’ll not soon forget.

“What a horrible noise,” Walter said. “It’s just like everyone says — like a train roaring through. The kids were holding their ears. The dogs refused to go back upstairs after it passed through. The noise was so loud.”

Walter said — to her surprise — when she emerged from the basement her house was still standing and she only had one major hole in the ceiling. A lawn mower tire could be seen in the kitchen and insulation was strewn throughout.

Outside her house, though, destruction was everywhere. A pickup and trailer her family uses to sell burritos out of during the Des Moines farmers’ market was “rolled up in a heap” atop her granddaughter’s car.

“The house is salvageable, but the rest is gone,” Walter said. “This farm has been in my family since the late 1930s. We bought the farm in 1961 and built our house in 1967. It just leaves you numb to know everything’s gone.”

The tornado also damaged her 97-year-old mother Lola Blazek’s farm and sister Joyce Green’s farm located nearby.

Walters stayed at her daughter’s house overnight as she had no electricity and a propane leak on her property was a cause for concern for everyone in the area. The propane was turned off shortly after 10 p.m., Walter said.

Creston was under a tornado warning until 7:15 p.m. Sunday. However, residents here were spared any tornado activity. Residents here did see pea- to tennis-ball size hail and rain totals near 2 inches. See video and pictures of the tornado in Williamson at www.crestonnews.com or on the CNA Facebook page.