People are hard at work repairing this apartment complex this morning after the #derecho.
I think this neighborhood is technically over the line in Marion city limits, but on the NE side of Cedar Rapids.
#IowaStorms
I think this neighborhood is technically over the line in Marion city limits, but on the NE side of Cedar Rapids.
#IowaStorms
Lots of work to be done in Cedar Rapids and Marion. This is Amar Drive SE. #IowaDerecho #IowaStorms
I can’t get over what the #derecho2020 did to some of these trees.
Along Amar Drive SE.
#IowaStorms #Iowahurricane
Along Amar Drive SE.
#IowaStorms #Iowahurricane
This is the situation at Westdale apartments in Cedar Rapids. Home to many refugees. This unit was declared unlivable by the city but families are still going in and out. There are nails and debris everywhere. Residents and advocates say no govt ofcs are helping them #IowaDerecho
I walked Westdale apts with a local refugee advocate Lemi Tilahuan this morning.
He said when he first came here after the storm he ‘didn’t think anyone could’ve survived’. Some units, it’s like a bomb went off. Some families sleeping outside, in cars #IowaDerecho #IowaStorms
He said when he first came here after the storm he ‘didn’t think anyone could’ve survived’. Some units, it’s like a bomb went off. Some families sleeping outside, in cars #IowaDerecho #IowaStorms
A resident here at Westdale, Jacob Collins, told me the only govt response he’s seen (apart from do not enter notices) was for a dumpster fire.
These apartments do not have power, many don’t have gas stoves, people are cooking with whatever they can outside #IowaDerecho
These apartments do not have power, many don’t have gas stoves, people are cooking with whatever they can outside #IowaDerecho
refugee advocate Lemi Tilahuan says he was up til 3 am last night trying to get ppl into apartments so they wouldn’t spend the night in cars or under a tree.
Says for some here ‘this is the only home they’ve owned where they don’t have to look over their shoulder’ #IowaDerecho
Says for some here ‘this is the only home they’ve owned where they don’t have to look over their shoulder’ #IowaDerecho
Local refugee advocates coordinating their response. This is what it looks like.
Lemi Tilahuan says he shouldn’t have to call local officials to get them out to walk the streets of most vulnerable, they should know to do that themselves. #IowaDerecho #IowaStorms
Lemi Tilahuan says he shouldn’t have to call local officials to get them out to walk the streets of most vulnerable, they should know to do that themselves. #IowaDerecho #IowaStorms
There are other apartment complexes like this in Cedar Rapids, low income, many refugees and immigrants, cheap housing stock that was blasted away. This is not the only place w these conditions. #IowaDerecho #IowaStorms
At Westdale apts in Cedar Rapids. This is the same complex where Cheryl Barnes lives, a diabetic women I met on Thursday. At that point it had been 2 days since she had insulin & she was running out of food, has no power, no car, no phone. Hoping to find her. #IowaDerecho #iowa
This the Cedar Terrace apartments in Cedar Rapids.
Home to people from Congo, Togo, Liberia, Micronesia. For many, English is a 2nd or 3rd language. It has been absolutely devastated by the #derecho.
It’s difficult for me to describe the scale of the damage here #IowaStorms
Home to people from Congo, Togo, Liberia, Micronesia. For many, English is a 2nd or 3rd language. It has been absolutely devastated by the #derecho.
It’s difficult for me to describe the scale of the damage here #IowaStorms
Local refugee advocate Lemi Tilahun showed me Cedar Terrace apts today. Families are still living in some of the units. One I saw was miraculously not damaged. Others are obliterated.
#IowaDerecho #IowaStorms
#IowaDerecho #IowaStorms
CR refugee advocate Lemi Tilahun says the family who lived in this apt was here during #derecho. The mom had given birth 2 weeks before. The place was blown apart around them.
A neighbor Judith told me mom has since been released from hospital for storm injuries
#IowaDerecho
A neighbor Judith told me mom has since been released from hospital for storm injuries
#IowaDerecho
Frank lives directly underneath the apt in videos above. His unit seems totally fine. Frank is from Congo, has 2 little kids. He’s a gospel singer, photographer & works at Whirlpool mfg (dishwashers etc). The resiliency of these people is astounding #IowaDerecho #IowaStorms
Reporters for @IAStartingLine say the public response has increased dramatically here since their reporting yesterday. There was a city council member & st rep here, Hy-vee giving out groceries, people bringing food, water, diapers, but they say they need more #IowaDerecho #iowa
Around the other side of this building is a large extended family of people from Micronesia, the Phillips. They’ve set up tents to sleep in, another tent area to hang out in, a grill.
Some are staying with family at other apts, some sleeping in units here or tents #IowaDerecho
Some are staying with family at other apts, some sleeping in units here or tents #IowaDerecho
This large extended family from Micronesia is using downed trees from the storm for firewood for the grill they’ve built. Dinner tonight was barbecued chicken, ribs, hotdogs, plus fresh fruit, and birthday cake because it’s someone’s birthday. #IowaDerecho #IowaStorms
More from the camp that the Micronesian community at Cedar Terrace Apts in Cedar Rapids has built behind their devastated apartments. There were lots of little kids here, playing, laughing, singing. #IowaDerecho #IowaStorms
I spoke at length with AJ Phillip, one of the sons of the patriarch of the Phillip family from Micronesia living at Cedar Terrace Apts. He said the family wants to reocate to Alabama as soon as possible, where they have other family and can be closer to the water. #IowaDerecho
More from Cedar Terrace apts from @CityofCRiowa City Councilmember @ashleyvanorny
#IowaDerecho #IowaStorms
#IowaDerecho #IowaStorms
And more from Cedar Terrace apts in Cedar Rapids from @ibellamurray of @IAStartingLine, who’s been doing fantastic work.
These kids, this whole community, are survivors, through an incredible, horrific ordeal. Their apartment building blowing apart around them. #IowaDerecho
These kids, this whole community, are survivors, through an incredible, horrific ordeal. Their apartment building blowing apart around them. #IowaDerecho
More from Cedar Terrace Apts in Cedar Rapids from @melodymercadotv who has been doing incredible work.
Pacifique Mushishi asks Americans to ‘please keep paying attention to what’s happening in Cedar Rapids’
Says he feels like a refugee all over again in USA bc of #IowaDerecho
Pacifique Mushishi asks Americans to ‘please keep paying attention to what’s happening in Cedar Rapids’
Says he feels like a refugee all over again in USA bc of #IowaDerecho
At Cedar Terrace Apts I also met 14 year old Lenberg Phillip, he’s a rising freshman.
He has a horrific rash on his arms & legs after cleaning up the fiberglass insulation that litters this complex. Says it was everywhere, in the air like dust, he breathed it in #IowaDerecho
He has a horrific rash on his arms & legs after cleaning up the fiberglass insulation that litters this complex. Says it was everywhere, in the air like dust, he breathed it in #IowaDerecho
At Cedar Terrace apts Lenberg Phillip says the fiberglass rash on his arms & legs he got cleaning up after #IowaDerecho ‘feels like stabbing’ in his skin. Said it was 10 out of 10 pain. Now more like 8 out of 10.
He’s since got medical attention at the ER, got a Rx for steroids
He’s since got medical attention at the ER, got a Rx for steroids
Today the @CityofCRiowa Fire Chief came to Cedar Terrace apts in Cedar Rapids, speaking to residents thru an interpreter.
He’s declared the entire complex unsafe to occupy. Per a transcript provided by @melodymercadotv, he urged residents not to go inside the bldgs #IowaDerecho
He’s declared the entire complex unsafe to occupy. Per a transcript provided by @melodymercadotv, he urged residents not to go inside the bldgs #IowaDerecho
@CityofCRiowa Fire Chief Greg Smith told Cedar Terrace residents thru an interpreter that shelters are avail in CR, they want to be sensitive to cultural needs of the community. Will provide necessities. Will further assess structural integrity of bldgs #IowaDerecho #IowaStorms
🚨Please remember 🚨the #IowaDerecho hit on MONDAY. It is now SATURDAY. Where is the Red Cross? Where is FEMA? Where is the Natn Guard? These are the questions people in Iowa’s 2nd largest city are BEGGING for answers to, as they pitch tents amid the debris of their homes #Iowa
More from the Cedar Terrace apartments in Cedar Rapids.
The resilience of the residents there, and the conditions they are now living in, literally left me speechless.
And still they’re so generous, I had to refuse their hot food & water about 5 times #IowaDerecho #iowastorm
The resilience of the residents there, and the conditions they are now living in, literally left me speechless.
And still they’re so generous, I had to refuse their hot food & water about 5 times #IowaDerecho #iowastorm
