Sometimes the seventh cooperative principle of concern for community is more than an affirmation. It’s a matter of life and death.
For when a devastating EF-4 tornado swept through the tightly knit city of Greenfield, Iowa, on the afternoon of May 21, lineworkers and employees of Farmers Rural Electric Cooperative left their secure, concrete-walled shelter about a mile away as soon as it was safe to do so.
As they entered Greenfield, population about 2,100, they shoved aside debris, pulled survivors from the rubble and tended to the wounded in a community that resembled a war zone.
“We talk about the cooperative principles and how we’re like a family,” said Holi Weston, CEO of Farmers REC, whose family lost its century-old home to the tornado. “Tragedy just makes it real. I couldn’t be prouder of this group.”
The tornado had an impact beyond just the poles and the wires. You’re talking about people’s lives.
–Dave Shike, operations superintendent, Farmers REC
The pain from one of the most violent tornados on record—peak internal winds topped 300 mph—is still being felt. It left five dead, destroyed or damaged more than 150 homes in Greenfield, ended the school year prematurely and rendered the city fire station and hospital unusable.
But Farmers REC, with about 5,100 meters spread across parts of six counties, is part of a community-wide effort bringing a new sense of normalcy to the spirited city.
“System-wise, we’ve had more damage from ice storms,” said Dave Shike, a lifelong area resident and operations superintendent at Farmers REC. “But that’s a matter of going out and fixing things. The tornado had an impact beyond just the poles and the wires. You’re talking about people’s lives.”
First rumblings
Tuesday, May 21, began with warnings of volatile weather in Adair County. Weston elected to keep her daughter Maddie, a high school junior and avid track competitor, at home, just in case. Schools released students early because of the tornado warning, the first time longtime residents can recall such a precaution.
At Farmers REC, which has 21 full-time employees, the co-op staff gathered as it does before any storm to monitor the course of the tornado and review plans for power restoration. Around 3:30 p.m., alarms went off on everyone’s phones, a simultaneous cacophony of beeps and buzzes. According to plan, the staff headed for the co-op “vault,” the building’s secure zone.
“We had a roll call list in the vault that we’ve never used before, but we did that day,” said Weston, who has been at Farmers REC since 2009 and CEO since December 2022. “You could just tell it was different.”
Different indeed. The staff was in the vault for a couple of minutes at most, but in that time, Weston’s husband messaged her that their street was gone. Lineworker Trey Eddy reached his wife, huddled with their two children in the basement of their ransacked house. Their neighborhood was wiped out, she told him. Another call and Weston learned her father, Dennis Pickrell, was trapped with a fallen wall on his chest.
‘I don’t think anybody had time to think’
Shike knew the tornado had wreaked havoc on the co-op system, but power restoration would have to wait. A group of lineworkers jumped into trucks and headed toward what was left of Southeast First and Second Streets, among them Eddy, also Weston’s neighbor. Weston followed them with Marisa Pickrell, work order accountant and wife of a cousin of Weston.
“When we were driving for town, I don’t know that we were prepared for what the town was going to look like,” Pickrell said. “We were running over stuff but at that point, we didn’t care. Let’s just get there. I just kept saying, ‘Oh, my God. Where is all this stuff from?’”
When we were driving for town, I don’t know that we were prepared for what the town was going to look like.
–Marisa Pickrell, work order accountant, Farmers REC
Gas was leaking from the hospital and homes. Residences were ripped from their foundations and scattered everywhere. The tornado had lifted Eddy’s car and hurled it 100 feet away. He and other lineworkers pulled Weston’s father from the caved cinder block wall to safety; he was treated for his injuries and said he could not have sustained his position much longer.
“Then the linemen just took off running,” Weston said. “At that point, they weren’t worried about outages. Our line superintendent wasn’t worried about outages. They were worried about the people, pulling people out of basements. One of our linemen took off his sweatshirt and used it as a tourniquet on a lady’s leg. They took doors and used them as gurneys. A new apprentice was sitting with a challenged adult, just sitting with him until he could get help for a head wound.
“I don’t think anybody had time to think. It was just unbelievable.”
The recovery process begins
After about 90 minutes, Shike made the call—crews needed to get back into the field and restore power. “It was just a mess. We were cutting our way through lines. We had 40 poles on the ground,” he said. Mutual aid came from Clarke Electric Cooperative in Osceola as several lineworkers helped Farmers REC clear debris and rebuild lines.
A small municipal electric utility serves Greenfield, and Farmers REC reached out to it with support and materials.
Shike said service was restored to members who could safely receive it on Friday, May 24. “We left a lot of things on the ground to be cleaned up later,” he said. “We’re still waiting on some members to decide whether they want to rebuild or go in another direction.”
Weston said power restoration had practical and psychological value. “It’s one thing to cross off the list. The power is on. Now we can start cleaning. Now we start cooking meals.”
Shike also gained a new neighbor, as Weston’s family took up residence in a cabin on his property for about two months. The north side of her house was destroyed, though her daughter’s track medals remained untouched on a desk. She and her family are in a rental home until they figure out their next move. Marisa Pickrell and her family, including two daughters, have been living with a brother, while the Eddy family lives in an empty farmhouse owned by the uncle of an REC foreman.
Relief contributions have been flowing in to deal with an estimated $30 million in repairs, and the hashtag #greenfieldstrong has been prominent on social media. In late July, a bike tour called the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, or RAGBRAI, passed through Greenfield. Farmers REC closed its office for the day to help with the event, with riders donating about $10,000 to the Greenfield cause.
“It’s been the longest and shortest two months of my life,” Weston said. “I have always said that I am super thankful for this team we have. We’re a pretty close team, but after the tornado, seeing how everyone supported everyone else shows you that the co-op is a family in good times and bad.”
Steven Johnson is a contributing writer for NRECA.