Tales from the Heartland: Tougher than a Tornado? You betcha!

On May 25, 2008, a large and destructive EF-5 tornado (wind speeds up to 205 mph) tore a 43-mile-long path across Butler and Black Hawk counties in Iowa killing nine people and causing several million dollars worth of damage in Parkersburg, Iowa.

Since 2000, only nine tornadoes in the U.S. have been officially rated EF-5 – the highest level of damage a tornado can inflict.

“A year or two later after that tornado, a guy came up to me at the Iowa State Fair booth and told me that he lost his entire cattle building, his machine shed, all that,” said Gordon Greimann, Carlson Wholesale, Inc. Iowa Sales Representative. “The only thing he had left standing in the lot was his Ritchie. I think that is a fairly good demonstration of how durable and dependable our products are!”