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Good-looking corn crop ruined by hail Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Agri News staff writer
LAWLER, Iowa -- Wayne Boedensteiner's corn crop looked good on June 17.
"It was a sea of green, pretty as could be, and in five minutes it was bare ground," Bodensteiner said.
Much of his corn and soybean crop was obliterated by hail that his neighbors said was as big as tennis balls. His and his neighbors' fields, north of Lawler, look like there's nothing in them. Hail adjusters, who usually have to wait a week to 10 days to make a determination, told him to go ahead and replant as soon as the soil dries out, but to leave strips.
He'll replant his ground to beans. Replanting corn this late in the season would result in 50 percent of a normal yield even if conditions are perfect from now until harvest.
The storm busted all the windows on the north side of the home Wayne shares with his wife, June. Their steel siding is pitted with dents. and the roof is ruined. Doors were blown off, windows broken and roofs damaged on outbuildings. Two gravity wagons that were hooked together flipped on their sides. A new auger Wayne used once tipped over.
"I think we had straight-line winds," Wayne said. "I don't know how much rain we had. Everyone's rain gauges broke, but there was water over the road in places where we've never seen it over the road."
The Bodensteiners had an inch of hail on their bedroom carpet, and once the storm subsided near midnight, they headed to the Lawler lumberyard for plywood to cover windows.
"Donnie Kurtenbach is the owner, and he opened the lumberyard for us," Wayne said.
"The fire department was there, and they came out and helped us board up the windows," June said. "We went down the road from our house to the neighbors. Everyone helped everyone until we were all taken care of. That's how it is in a small town."
The next day Lawler residents helped the Bodensteiners and their neighbors clean tree limbs and downed trees.
Don Blazek Jr. said 80 percent to 90 percent of his crop was damaged by hail.
"I'd say 30 to 50 percent is in pretty rough shape," Blazek said as he showed his fields to hail adjusters.
Paul Kuennen built a new shop last fall. He will have to replace the roof and walls because they're all dented. His house is brick, but the roof, gutters and windows on the north side have to be replaced. The windows also broke in his outbuildings. The steel roof on his barn has to be replaced.
"I have good insurance, and they will take care of it," Kuennen said.
Kuennen will wait a few days to assess how bad the crop damage is.
"It's not just me, it's all my neighbors, too," Kuennen said. "It was widespread. We had neighbors come up with tractors and move trees that blew down. We spent Thursday sweeping up the debris on our yard. "
Kuennen's neighbor lost a new machine shed. The storm took it off the foundation and spread it out through the field.
"The wind pulled the posts out of the ground and blew it away," he said. |
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