Iowa City Twisters

I was up late Thursday night and first heard mention of tornadoes in Iowa City on BBC radio of all places, piped in via KPCC. Immediately I checked for media coverage and was impressed to find a video report and slideshow already up on the Daily Iowan (university paper) website. Additionally, the Iowa City Press-Citizen had a collection sent in from readers and also from two staff photographers who apparently were out all night before getting aerial shots the next day that were inevitably re-printed nationwide.

There were even pictures of baseball-sized hail posted on flickr. Iowa City Public Access TV had already posted a video (unfortunately, without sound) of the storm passing overhead. This must be what the oft-erroneous phrase “citizen journalism” is all about.
But the greatest surprise came today, when I received an e-mail forward linking to a photo sent to the Daily Iowan, showing the century-old house on the corner of Governor and Jefferson in which I lived along with as many as eleven other friends during a two-year stint of intense debauchery education.