Runners Caught Outside As Hail Storm Hits
GRINNELL, Iowa —
Four Grinnell College students out for a run Tuesday were caught outside in a hail storm and had to be taken to the hospital.
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Pat Crawford told KCCI that she and her husband were driving near Grinnell when they found one of the students along the road.
“We saw right up here, there was a kid in the road looking like he was flagging things down. And you could tell he was a runner because he had the running shorts on, he was barefooted, and he looked pretty beat up,” said Crawford.
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The student told Crawford that he, another man and two women tried to hide in a ditch when the storm hit, but they were forced to seek shelter when the hail became too intense. They were also worried they might drown as water started flooding into the ditch.
“They thought it was a tornado, which a lot of us thought it was a tornado. So they laid in the ditch, which was a good idea but they were just getting the tar beat out of them and the ditches were filling with water, so they knew they couldn’t stay there,” said Crawford.
The students found a nearby empty house to hide from the storm in, said Crawford.
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The students were covered in red welts after being pounded by the hail. Crawford and her husband loaded the runners into their van and took them to the hospital.
The Grinnell College cross country coach met the students at the hospital.
One of the students required X-rays to check for broken bones. They were all treated and released from the hospital.
Crawford said she had never seen anything like it.
“That’s why I took the picture. It was unbelievable. I’ve never seen a human body that looked that beat up and they were still walking around,” said Crawford.
There were also high school students outside when the storm hit, including the boys soccer team. We’re told some players were slightly hurt. There was also damage at the tennis court.
Storm spotters in the area reported 1 to 1.5 inch hail.
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The storm also snapped utility poles in the area, damaged trees and caused other damage, storm spotters reported Tuesday night. Wind gusts were clocked at 75 mph from the storm in the nearby town of Brooklyn around 5:44 p.m.
